Chapter Summaries

After Kuzan beat Garen to test his resolve, Garen used Data Mode to heal instantly and showed Kuzan the Big Salted Fish airship. Kuzan asked to ride it toward Marine Headquarters, then threatened to report Robin to Sengoku if the crew refused.

• Kuzan battered Garen until he could barely care for himself, while Garen endured the beating without falling.
• Robin and Vivi tended to Garen as Nami grew jealous, but Garen activated Data Mode and healed all his injuries.
• Garen explained the Big Salted Fish airship’s capabilities and rare, costly lifting gas to Kuzan.
• Kuzan asked the crew to take him toward Marine Headquarters because headquarters was urging him to return to work.
• Nami challenged Kuzan’s request, and Kuzan threatened to report Robin to Fleet Admiral Sengoku for harboring a wanted criminal.

After Garen accidentally veered the airship off course, Nami discovered a nearby Sky Island, and the crew chose to explore it for its gold and Poneglyphs. As they approached, a panicked lackey warned Golden Lion Shiki that a huge salted fish was flying toward his island.

• Garen admitted he had taken the airship off course, while Nami reprimanded him and Vivi for piloting without permission.
• Kuzan called Fleet Admiral Sengoku to report his delayed return, then admitted he preferred sleeping aboard the airship.
• Nami noticed the Log Pose pointing horizontally and realized a Sky Island was nearby.
• Garen persuaded Nami and Robin to visit by mentioning the island's gold and Poneglyphs, and Vivi eagerly agreed.
• The crew spotted Sky Island's floating landscapes and seas, while Garen, Nami, and Robin looked forward to facing Enel, finding gold, and studying Poneglyphs.
• A lackey rushed to Golden Lion Shiki and reported that a huge salted fish was flying toward his island.

Garen discovered that the supposed Sky Island was filled with giant beasts and began hunting them to gain experience. When Golden Lion Shiki confronted him over entering his island, Garen challenged him, and a sleepy-eyed man appeared at the airship hatch after Shiki threatened him.

• Garen spotted two giant beasts fighting on the island, ordered the airship to hover, and flew down alone to investigate.
• Garen killed the four-armed gorilla and a giant mantis, then realized the island offered a chance to gain experience and charged into the forest to hunt more beasts.
• Nami called Garen to report that a man was standing outside the airship, so Garen returned and recognized him as Golden Lion Shiki.
• Shiki questioned Garen for entering his island, and Garen claimed he had come to take the pirate's head.
• Shiki threatened to kill Garen in the sky, but a sleepy-eyed man appeared at the airship hatch and asked who was calling for him.

Garen and Kuzan fought Golden Lion Shiki after accidentally reaching his island, and Kuzan froze the surrounding sky into a battlefield. Garen tried to lure Shiki into range so Kuzan could trap him, but Shiki took the bait and dove toward them.

• Shiki mistook Garen and Kuzan’s arrival for a Navy operation, then attacked them with Lion's Rend when he learned they had simply gotten lost.
• Kuzan blocked Shiki’s sword storm with Ice Shield while the Big Salted Fish escaped using Coup de Burst.
• Shiki overwhelmed Garen and Kuzan in the open sky, forcing Garen to suggest they move the fight to the floating island.
• Kuzan used Ice Age to freeze the island’s surrounding sea into a vast glacier, giving them solid ground to fight on.
• Garen told Kuzan he could restrict Shiki’s movement within about thirty meters, then taunted Shiki into diving toward them with Karasu Sits on a Plane.

Garen and Kuzan battled Golden Lion Shiki in the sky, freezing and wounding him but failing to keep him contained. Garen then sacrificed himself to disable Shiki’s flight and leave him helpless in midair, before unleashing Excalibur.

• Garen blocked Shiki’s sword assault while Kuzan froze him inside a pillar of ice.
• Garen struck Shiki with Demacian Justice, but Shiki broke free, controlled the ice with his Float-Float Fruit, and shattered their glacier foothold.
• Garen told Kuzan he could make Shiki fall, then charged Shiki alongside him in midair.
• Garen let Shiki’s blade pierce his chest, grabbed Shiki’s thigh, and slashed his waist, disabling Shiki’s Float-Float Fruit.
• Garen mocked the legless Shiki as he began falling, then unleashed Excalibur and engulfed him in light.

Garen and Kuzan waited on Golden Lion’s floating island after their attack failed to defeat him, while Nami located them above the Calm Belt. As they wondered what lay below, a cigar fell from the sky onto Boa Hancock’s head on Amazon Lily.

• Garen and Kuzan realized Golden Lion had survived the attack and agreed to wait for him on his floating island.
• Garen contacted Nami, who reported that the airship was above the Calm Belt, where winds existed at their altitude.
• Garen worried that the floating island might drift over land and harm the animals below.
• Boa Hancock returned to her palace amid her subjects’ cheers on Amazon Lily.
• A half-smoked cigar fell from the sky onto Hancock’s hair, and she crushed it and demanded to know who had thrown it.

Garen and Kuzan evacuated more than two hundred villagers from Golden Lion’s Floating Island, then faced a beast tide sent by the Flying Pirates. As Kuzan froze the beasts in place, Garen harvested them and reached Level 12, gaining the skill Child of Death.

• Garen found the village of civilians enslaved by Golden Lion and sent Nami back with the airship to evacuate them.
• Nami, Vivi, and the others helped more than two hundred villagers board the airship and escape the island.
• Kuzan acknowledged Garen’s decision to save the villagers, but a beast tide soon charged toward them.
• Kuzan identified a surveillance Den Den Mushi and froze the beasts in place with Ice Age so Garen could fight them.
• Garen cleared the beasts and reached Level 12, receiving the random skill Child of Death.

Boa Hancock’s island was devastated by two waves of falling ice, and she confronted the wounded Golden Lion Shiki when he descended from the sky. The chapter left Hancock attacking Shiki with her petrifying power, which failed to affect him.

• Hancock demanded that someone claim responsibility for a discarded cigar butt, but no one stepped forward.
• Chunks of ice fell from the sky and battered Nine Serpent Island, so Hancock ordered the warriors to fight and the civilians to shelter.
• A second, larger wave of falling ice devastated the island and reduced Hancock’s palace and city to ruins.
• A golden beam brought the wounded Golden Lion Shiki down to the island, where Hancock demanded to know who he was.
• Hancock attacked Shiki with Perfume Femur, but he remained unharmed and released an aura stronger than hers.

Golden Lion Shiki tried to recruit Hancock to join him in attacking Garen, whom he blamed for Nine Serpent Island’s destruction. Hancock agreed despite Granny Nyon’s warnings, but when she hesitated over the danger to her people, Shiki threatened to drop his enormous floating island on them.

• Golden Lion told Hancock that Garen and Marine Admiral Kuzan had caused the destruction around Nine Serpent Island during their battle, and Hancock declared her hatred for Garen.
• Shiki invited Hancock to help him fight Garen, and Hancock agreed after recalling the story of Otto Luke Sterry and resolving to defy the Celestial Dragons.
• Granny Nyon warned Hancock that Kuzan was with Garen and that joining the wanted pirate Shiki could bring the World Government’s retaliation upon Nine Serpent Island.
• Hancock hesitated because she feared for her people, so Shiki threatened to drop his massive floating island onto the island and demonstrated his control by crashing down the platform before them.

Garen tested his modified Child of Death skill and discovered that it could enslave the soul of an enemy he killed. When Golden Lion returned to the floating island, Garen welcomed him as a powerful candidate for his Death Knight minion.

• Garen cursed a giant lizard, drained its HP, then killed it and summoned its enslaved soul.
• Garen demonstrated that he could command the conscious spirit lizard, shocking Kuzan and prompting him to compare the ability to Charlotte Linlin's soul power.
• Garen found that enslaved souls kept their strength and abilities indefinitely, but he could control only one at a time; summoning a spirit eagle caused the lizard spirit to vanish.
• Golden Lion returned to the floating island, still covered in burns from the earlier light cannon.
• Garen greeted Golden Lion eagerly and declared that he would turn him into a ghost beneath his blade.

Golden Lion brought Boa Hancock to the battlefield as his ally, forcing her to fight Garen while Kuzan battled Golden Lion. Garen resisted Hancock’s charm and petrification, then called Nami and declared he would attack Hancock as she watched.

• Golden Lion summoned Boa Hancock and revealed that she was his ally, while Kuzan challenged her for siding against the Marines.
• Golden Lion attacked Kuzan, and Hancock intercepted Garen’s charge and declared him her opponent.
• Hancock tried to petrify Garen with Perfume Femur, but his Twilight of the Gods ability made him immune to control effects.
• Garen struggled to attack Hancock because of her beauty, while Kuzan and Golden Lion fought across the battlefield.
• Garen called Nami and told her to watch as he prepared to slash Hancock.

Garen ignored Hancock's charm and defeated her with his flaming greatsword, leaving her exhausted and exposed. As he approached with Seastone Handcuffs, Hancock feared he would see the Celestial Dragon brand on her back and swept her hair over it, startling Garen.

• Hancock attacked Garen with Slave Arrow, but he used Soru to evade the arrows and close the distance.
• Garen overwhelmed Hancock in close combat, broke through her Armament Haki with Fatal Strike, and set her clothing ablaze.
• Hancock tore away the burning part of her cheongsam, and most of her remaining clothes burned off as Garen's assault stopped.
• Garen approached Hancock with Seastone Handcuffs while she panicked over the brand on her back being exposed.
• Hancock swept her hair across her back to conceal the brand, and Garen dropped his greatsword in surprise.

Garen subdued Hancock and returned to help Kuzan defeat Golden Lion, who chose death rather than surrender. Before dying, Golden Lion revealed that the floating island would fall and kill the people of Amazon Lily below, then refused to spare them; his death left the island's fate uncertain.

• Hancock surrendered, and Garen put Seastone Handcuffs on her before leaving her to join Kuzan and Golden Lion's battle.
• Garen and Kuzan wore down Golden Lion until he collapsed, exhausted and unable to escape.
• Golden Lion refused Kuzan's offer of imprisonment and asked Garen to kill him.
• Hancock rushed over and warned that Golden Lion's death would send the floating island crashing onto Nine Serpent Island and kill the people of Amazon Lily.
• Golden Lion impaled himself on Garen's blade, declared that his subjects should be buried with him, and died as a pale ghost rose amid his fading laughter.

After Golden Lion died, Garen controlled his soul and made him surrender his body, treasure, and crew. Garen then recruited Indigo to redirect his biological research toward breeding enormous pigs for food production.

• Golden Lion awakened as a ghost with his powers intact and imagined conquering the afterlife, but Garen stopped him and forced him under his control.
• Garen ordered Golden Lion to carry his corpse so the Marines could claim the bounty, and he planned to give Sakura Ten and Kareki to a young swordswoman in East Blue.
• Golden Lion’s pirates emptied his treasure vault, and Garen claimed the wealth for railway construction.
• Garen ordered Indigo to join his command and continue researching biological evolution for peaceful production rather than warfare.
• Garen told Indigo to begin by breeding pigs as big as elephants to help address food shortages.

After taking over the Flying Pirates, Garen forced Hancock to remain with him, intending to have her teach him Haki. Nami walked in just as Hancock was in Garen’s arms, leaving Garen to explain the scene.

• Garen confronted Hancock and demanded that she work for him, threatening that the floating island could fall onto Nine Serpent Island if she refused.
• Hancock agreed to make the Nine Serpent Pirates Garen’s subordinates, but he refused to let her return home and said she had to stay by his side.
• Hancock believed Garen intended to enslave her and collapsed from despair, but Garen clarified that he wanted her to train him in Haki.
• Hancock agreed to teach Garen and remained in his arms until Nami entered with news that the Flying Pirates’ valuables had been inventoried.
• Garen pushed Hancock away and awkwardly told Nami that he was learning Haki from her.

As the airship headed toward Marine Headquarters, Nami and Vivi challenged Hancock’s place aboard, and Garen tried to dodge Nami’s demand to choose between them. Golden Lion explained that awakening Haki required forceful will, but Garen failed to answer decisively and promised only to send Hancock away after learning Haki.

• Nami and Vivi questioned why Hancock was on their ship, while Robin teased Garen about recruiting beautiful women.
• Vivi revealed that she had watched Hancock and Garen’s earlier encounter, embarrassing Hancock and renewing Nami’s suspicions.
• Golden Lion mocked Garen’s timid nature and explained that awakening Haki depended on will, ambition, and courage rather than strength.
• Garen asked Golden Lion how to awaken Haki, hoping to gain Armament Haki that could help him strike Logia users.
• After Golden Lion urged him to show his will by answering Nami, Garen said he wanted them all, then promised to send Hancock away once he learned Haki.

Garen's airship arrived at the Sabaody Archipelago, where Kuzan warned him that seeing the Celestial Dragons' abuses could turn him against the World Government. Garen reassured him that he would avoid trouble and take his family sightseeing.

• Nami announced the airship had reached Sabaody, and Hancock quietly struggled with painful memories of the archipelago.
• Vivi described Sabaody's attractions, so Garen agreed to take Nami, Vivi, and Robin sightseeing.
• Kuzan warned Garen that his rapid growth and Golden Lion's presence could make him a target of Marine Headquarters.
• Kuzan explained that Sabaody's Celestial Dragon abuses had shattered many Marines' ideals and feared Garen might react violently.
• Garen promised he would not cause trouble, and Kuzan reluctantly accepted his reassurance.

Garen’s group wandered into Sabaody’s human-trafficking district, where Hancock was shaken by memories of being enslaved. Garen initially refused to intervene, but after hearing that an old man was selling his granddaughter, he agreed to save her.

• Hancock’s beauty drew a crowd until Garen’s identity frightened the onlookers into prostrating themselves.
• Garen led the group away from the commercial district and they accidentally entered the human-trafficking district, where Hancock recognized the cages and collars from her past.
• Nami asked Garen to help the enslaved people, but he refused, and Robin explained that rescuing them all would invite the World Government’s retaliation without ending the slave trade.
• As the group tried to leave, they overheard that an old man was selling his granddaughter to traffickers, and Nami urged Garen to act.
• Garen stopped and told Nami he could not save everyone, but he could save that one person.

Garen reunited with Rayleigh and Perona at the slave auction house, where the auctioneer revealed a mysterious Logia Fruit would be sold. Meanwhile, Teach arrived at the auction house hoping the fruit might be the Dark-Dark Fruit he had long sought.

• Garen recognized Rayleigh as he prepared to sell Perona, and Rayleigh left Perona in Garen's care while arranging to meet him at Shakky's Rip-off Bar.
• Perona tried to flee, but Garen stopped the slave trader from taking her to auction after the trader recognized him and gave her to him.
• The slave trader told Garen that the afternoon auction's finale treasure was a mysterious Logia Fruit.
• Teach arrived at the Sabaody Archipelago auction house with his subordinates, hoping the fruit might be the Dark-Dark Fruit.

Key Plot Points and Events

• Garen learns about a mysterious Logia-type Devil Fruit at an auction.
• Garen meets Teach (Blackbeard) at the auction house.
• Garen decides to bid on the Devil Fruit to spite Teach.
• Garen and his group are escorted to reserved seats for distinguished guests.
• Garen hands Perona to Hancock to keep an eye on her.

Character Developments

• Garen shows disinterest in the Devil Fruit initially but changes his mind to spite Teach.
• Hancock shows fear and madness when she thinks Garen knows about her past.
• Perona remains fearful and restless around Garen.

Significant Themes

• The power and allure of Devil Fruits.
• The complex relationship between Garen and Teach.
• Hancock's fear of her past and her true identity.

Character Interactions

• Garen and Teach have a silent, tense exchange upon seeing each other.
• Garen interacts with Nami, Vivi, and Robin about the company's finances.
• Garen comforts Hancock and hands Perona to her, increasing Hancock's fear and suspicion.
• Hancock questions Garen about his knowledge of her past.