Chapter Summaries

Yaen and "Red-Haired" Shanks debated whether pirates’ freedom or the rotten institutions of the era had caused the Great Pirate Era. Shanks revealed Roger’s devastating Haki technique and demanded that Yaen end the war, leaving Yaen facing a threat he had no authority to answer by stopping the Marines.

• Yaen criticized pirates’ unrestrained freedom, while Shanks argued that rotten institutions had driven people to pursue freedom and become pirates.
• Yaen said he intended to restrain and change the Great Pirate Era, and Shanks expressed hope that his ideals would come true.
• Shanks described a war in which Roger wiped out more than a million soldiers and sheared half an island away, surprising Yaen.
• Shanks revealed that Roger had developed a technique based on Ruler's Domain called "Standing at the Pinnacle of Pirates" and began transforming his own Ruler's Domain.
• Shanks asked Yaen to end the war, but Yaen lacked the authority to stop it and Marine justice would not allow a retreat under a pirate’s threat.

Shanks entered the state of Standing at the Apex of Pirates, unleashing an uncontrollable Conqueror's Haki Shock across the island. Yaen ordered most Marines to retreat, but the shock killed Beast Pirates and Marines alike as it swept over the battlefield.

• Shanks warned Yaen to keep the Marines away, then transformed as his Ruler's Domain fused with him and his Conqueror's Haki pressure intensified.
• Yaen realized Shanks's state could kill those without sufficient strength and ordered all Marines below admiral rank to withdraw.
• Borsalino questioned Yaen's order while he, Gion, and Kake had been holding back Kaido.
• Shanks unleashed a Conqueror's Haki Shock that overwhelmed Yaen's Haki and spread across the island.
• The shock killed many Beast Pirates and also struck the retreating Marines, while Kaido roared at Shanks and Yaen recognized the power of his state.

Shanks unleashed a terrifying Haki-powered state and ordered the battered Red-Haired Pirates to escape while he held off their pursuers. As Beckman led the crew toward their ship, Enel blocked their path, and Shanks attacked him with a lightning-wrapped Flying Slash.

• Shanks's Conqueror's Haki overwhelmed the battlefield and revealed a monstrous new state that Beckman recognized as his ultimate trump card.
• Shanks told Beckman and the other Red-Haired Pirates to leave while he paved the way for them.
• Beckman ordered the crew to obey their captain and led them toward their ship, despite their protests.
• Enel blocked the Red-Haired Pirates' escape, and Shanks swung Gryphon at him with a black-and-red lightning-wrapped Flying Slash.
• Enel answered Shanks's attack with his 300 Million Volts · Lightning Dragon.

“Red-Haired” Shanks split Enel’s thunder form and carved a path through the island, allowing the “Red-Haired Pirates” to escape. Yaen let them go, then faced Shanks and questioned how long he could maintain his dangerous “Standing at the Apex of Pirates” form.

• Enel transformed into a thunder dragon and charged at “Red-Haired” Shanks, but Shanks’s Flying Slash cleaved through it and split a piece from the island.
• Enel abandoned his Thunder God form and narrowly dodged the slash as seawater flooded into the split island.
• “Red-Haired” Shanks told his crew to keep moving while Beckman watched, fearing Shanks could not return safely from his form.
• Yaen contacted Vice Admiral Tsuru and told her not to stop the “Red-Haired Pirates” from leaving the island.
• Yaen warned Shanks that his form made it impossible for a ship to carry him and asked how long he could maintain it.

Yaen faced Shanks in his overwhelming Standing at the Apex of Pirates state, choosing to evade and wear him down rather than challenge his superior strength directly. The fight continued as the Shichibukai joined the battle against the Beast Pirates, while Hancock stayed nearby.

• Yaen asked how long Shanks could maintain Standing at the Apex of Pirates, and Shanks answered that it would last until everyone in his sight lost the courage to fight.
• Shanks blitzed Yaen and split the crater with a slash, but Yaen narrowly escaped and reappeared fifty meters away.
• Yaen ordered the Shichibukai not to interfere in his duel and sent them to fight the Beast Pirates, while Hancock remained near him.
• Shanks shattered more than a hundred blades infused with Conqueror's Haki Coating and urged Yaen to use his White Emperor Sword state.
• Yaen kept evading Shanks with Shunpo and attacked with blades from Senkei: Senbonzakura Kageyoshi, hoping to outlast Shanks's transformation.

Shanks and Yaen’s battle devastated the island, forcing Tsuru to evacuate the Marines and let the Red-Haired Pirates escape. Sengoku confronted Garp about concealing Roger-related information, but Garp’s accidental mention of Ace revealed that Sengoku was actually asking about Shanks’s hidden ability, “Standing at the Apex of Pirates.”

• Shanks and Yaen fought with Haki-coated attacks that caused the island to crumble.
• Tsuru evacuated the Marines and opened a gap for the Red-Haired Pirates to withdraw, then reported Shanks’s destructive ability to Marineford.
• During his battle with Whitebeard, Garp paused to answer Sengoku’s Den Den Mushi call.
• Sengoku accused Garp of hiding crucial information about Roger, and Garp feared that Ace’s parentage had been exposed.
• Garp accidentally mentioned Ace, but Sengoku clarified that he was asking whether Garp knew about Shanks’s ability, “Standing at the Apex of Pirates.”

Garp revealed that Roger’s “Standing at the Apex of Pirates” state devastated the user’s body, and Sengoku learned Shanks had inherited it. After confirming Ace was Roger’s son, Whitebeard suspected Garp had made a deal with Roger connected to Laugh Tale, while Garp rushed back toward the battlefield.

• Sengoku confronted Garp over hiding information about Roger’s power and told him Shanks had inherited the ability.
• Garp explained that the state depended on mastery of Ruler’s Domain and inflicted severe bodily damage, but he knew little about its weaknesses.
• Whitebeard deduced that Ace was Roger’s son, and Garp confirmed Ace’s full name was Portgas D. Ace.
• Garp described Ace’s resentment of Roger’s bloodline, strong attachment to his companions, and ambition to become Pirate King.
• Whitebeard ended his fight with Garp and suggested Garp had made a deal with Roger involving the secret of Laugh Tale and Roger’s will.
• Garp ordered his Marine Warship to race toward the battlefield, believing an expert in Armament Haki might be needed to counter Shanks’s state.

As the island collapsed, Kaido escaped to Wano Country with several Beast Pirates officers while the Marines continued watching Yaen fight Shanks. The battle raged across the sky and sea, leaving the Marines awed by Yaen’s strength.

• Kaido transformed into his Azure Dragon Form, grabbed several Beast Pirates officers, and fled the collapsing island after Borsalino and other Marines deflected his Heat Breath and attacked him.
• The Marines let Kaido go, knowing they could not stop him in the air and choosing to conserve their strength for Shanks.
• Borsalino noticed that five Shichibukai had disappeared but assumed they had fled the collapsing battlefield.
• Shanks and Yaen continued fighting above the sinking island, moving through the air and over the sea as their clashes split the sky.
• The Marines watched Yaen battle Shanks and gained a new respect for the supposedly idle Vice Admiral.

After a night-long battle, Yaen defeated Shanks the Red-Haired, who collapsed after realizing Yaen had no voice within him despite seeming to be a Devil Fruit User. The Marines celebrated Yaen’s victory and the capture of Shanks, while Yaen feared Shanks had uncovered the truth about his abilities.

• At dawn, the exhausted Yaen and Shanks the Red-Haired acknowledged the battle’s outcome as Shanks’s body began failing.
• Shanks revealed that he had struck at Yaen 3,972 times without landing a hit and questioned how Yaen had moved so quickly.
• Shanks used Ruler's Domain to listen to Yaen and was shocked that he could hear no voice inside him, leading him to wonder whether Yaen was not a Devil Fruit User.
• Yaen concealed his alarm and considered killing or capturing Shanks to prevent his secret from being exposed.
• Shanks muttered about the information left behind in Laugh Tale, then burst into blood and fell toward the sea.
• The Marines cheered as Yaen won and Shanks the Red-Haired was captured, celebrating the result as a major victory in the war.

Yaen rescued the gravely injured "Red-Haired" Shanks and questioned him about the voice and Devil Fruits. Shanks revealed that Devil Fruits contain a "devil" that merges with a user's soul and can seek a new fruit when the user dies.

• Yaen caught the falling "Red-Haired" Shanks and carried him to a floating island fragment.
• Shanks refused Yaen's offer of an injection and explained that his words concerned truths about Devil Fruits and Laugh Tale.
• Yaen warned Shanks to watch what he said, then invited him to explain the voice he had mentioned.
• Shanks said Devil Fruits change their users and that their effects come from a "devil" merging with a living being's soul.
• Shanks explained that when a user dies, the "devil" usually seeks a nearby fruit, though the deceased user's lingering consciousness can delay or alter its return.

Yaen learned from Shanks that Devil Fruit side effects came from a collective consciousness, and Shanks suspected Yaen was the first user of the Cherry Blossom Fruit. Their conversation ended when the Marines arrived and revealed Shanks was still a Celestial Dragon, though he said he remained a pirate and had a mission to fulfill.

• Shanks explained that Devil Fruit users fused with a collective consciousness shaped by the fruit’s first user, and Yaen wondered whether his Zanpakutō purified those consciousnesses.
• Shanks suggested Yaen was the Cherry Blossom Fruit’s first user because the Voice of All Things could hear its devil outside Yaen’s body, then asked where Yaen had found the fruit.
• Yaen noticed the approaching Navy fleet and told Shanks he would be taken to Impel Down, but Shanks hinted that they would meet somewhere else.
• Vice Admiral Tsuru addressed Shanks as Saint Shanks and apologized after the Gorosei confirmed his Celestial Dragon identity, leaving Yaen stunned.
• Shanks told Yaen that the World Government had only recently informed him of his Celestial Dragon blood, that he still considered himself a pirate, and that he had a mission to complete.

As the Marines concealed Shanks’s escape, Tsuru explained that his connection to the Celestial Dragons likely began with the Rocks Pirates’ attack on God Valley. She revealed that Garp and Roger defeated Rocks D. Zebek together, but the World Government erased Roger’s role and credited Garp alone.

• Borsalino, Tsuru, and Yaen watched a warship carrying Shanks depart while the Marines believed he was being escorted to Enies Lobby.
• Yaen asked Tsuru whether he should retire to avoid punishment for offending a Celestial Dragon, and she reassured him that Shanks’s identity was secret from most Celestial Dragons.
• Tsuru linked Shanks’s history as a pirate to the Rocks Pirates and explained that many Celestial Dragons once lived on God Valley.
• Tsuru recounted how Rocks D. Zebek attacked God Valley to capture Celestial Dragons and force the World Government to surrender.
• Tsuru said Garp and Roger joined forces to kill Rocks D. Zebek, after which the World Government hid Roger’s role and proclaimed Garp the Hero of the Marines.

Yaen learned that the Gorosei had ordered the Navy to release Shanks because he was a missing Celestial Dragon from God Valley, and he suspected Shanks had stolen the Rubber-Rubber Fruit to pass Roger’s will to Luffy. Vice Admiral Tsuru asked whether the Navy should attack Wano Country while the Big Mom and Whitebeard Pirates stayed out of the war, and Yaen had yet to answer.

• Vice Admiral Tsuru explained that Shanks was likely the Celestial Dragon who went missing during the Battle of God Valley and that the Gorosei had ordered his release.
• Yaen connected Shanks’s questions about the Cherry Blossom Fruit and the Rubber-Rubber Fruit’s theft to a larger secret involving Roger and Luffy.
• Yaen suspected Roger had become the Rubber-Rubber Fruit’s original devil and arranged for Luffy to inherit his will, with Garp helping prepare Luffy for his future.
• Borsalino brought Yaen’s attention back to Vice Admiral Tsuru, who asked whether the Navy should continue its attack on Wano Country and whether Yaen could still fight.

Yaen, Vice Admiral Tsuru, and Borsalino continued the Navy’s advance toward Wano Country to eliminate the Beast Pirates and seize its Seastone supply. At Onigashima, Monkey D. Dragon confronted Kaido, then Hancock, Corazon, Kuma, Enel, Fisher Tiger, and Moria appeared behind Kaido.

• Yaen supported Vice Admiral Tsuru’s plan to attack Wano Country, while Borsalino said he could only keep Kaido occupied.
• Vice Admiral Tsuru ordered the fleet to press on and destroy the Beast Pirates before other Great Pirates arrived.
• Kaido returned to Onigashima and found his crew slaughtered and the island attacked by gray-cloaked figures.
• Monkey D. Dragon revealed himself and told Kaido that the Beast Pirates’ historical role was over and Wano Country would move toward a freer future.
• Kaido challenged Dragon, and Moria asked whether his group could change the odds as Hancock, Corazon, Kuma, Enel, and Fisher Tiger stood with him.

The six Shichibukai attacked Kaido at full strength, with Fisher Tiger and Corazon leading the assault as Kaido struggled to withstand them. Kaido tried to escape Onigashima, but Dragon blocked his path and prepared to fight.

• Kaido mistook the Shichibukai’s presence for a Navy order, then realized they had joined Dragon to seize Wano and attacked them with Heat Breath.
• Fisher Tiger released Empress Shark and used Burning Sea Current and Fish-Man Karate to overpower Kaido’s Heat Breath and strike his head.
• Corazon and the other Shichibukai unleashed their Void Soul Reaper Blade forms and battered Kaido, leaving his dragon body bloodied.
• Kaido recognized the danger, used lightning and Dragon Twister: Bad Wind to drive off his attackers, then flew toward the sky to escape Onigashima.
• Dragon revealed his Conqueror’s Haki Coating and stood in Kaido’s path as Kaido charged and unleashed Bad Wind at him.

Dragon slammed Kaido into Onigashima, where Enel and four allies unleashed a combined attack on him. Meanwhile, Tsuru's Marine fleet struggled through Wano's deadly waters and was swept up the waterfall as Jinbe and the Sun Pirates manipulated the currents.

• Dragon redirected Kaido's winds, seized his jaw, and hurled him down onto Onigashima.
• Enel pinned Kaido with waves and lightning while Hancock, Corazon, Fisher Tiger, and Perona fired King's Flash: Quartet at him.
• Tsuru directed the Marine fleet through the storm as Yaen claimed he was going to rest in the cabin.
• Seven of Tsuru's seventeen warships were swallowed by waves, and three more became separated from the fleet.
• Tsuru ordered the fleet to stop when an upward-flowing waterfall appeared, but seven warships were carried up it.
• Jinbe and the Sun Pirates began manipulating the currents in Wano's inland sea.

The Marines lost their warships to a whirlpool while trying to reach Wano Country, and they believed Vice Admiral Yaen had been swept away with the flagship. In reality, Yaen had reached Onigashima, where he reunited with Hancock and confronted the restrained Kaido.

• Jinbe and the Sun Pirates controlled the current as seven Marine Warships were swept up the waterfall toward Wano Country.
• Vice Admiral Tsuru ordered the Marines to abandon ship, and the warships were swallowed by a massive whirlpool.
• Vice Admiral Momousagi noticed Yaen was missing, and Tsuru revealed he had been sleeping aboard the flagship.
• Tsuru ordered the Marines to search Wano Country's coastline for Yaen, whom they feared had drowned.
• Yaen emerged from the seawater on Onigashima, reunited with Hancock, and changed into dry clothes inside Xiao Jin.
• Yaen found Kaido bound in Seastone restraints and spoke with him while Fisher Tiger and Corazon held him down.

Yaen confronted the captured Kaido, revealed that he had spared Kaido after their clash seven years earlier, and questioned him about Laugh Tale, the Rocks Pirates, and his body modifications. Kaido refused to answer and began breaking free of his Seastone chains as Yaen’s group stepped back.

• Yaen told Kaido that the Marines’ battle and the destruction of the Beast Pirates had ended Kaido’s pirate game.
• Yaen reminded Kaido that he had lost an arm to Yaen’s flames seven years earlier and said Kaido had survived because Yaen spared him.
• Yaen asked Kaido about Laugh Tale, the Rocks Pirates, and the modifications made to his body, but Kaido stayed silent.
• Yaen told Fisher Tiger and Corazon to move away from Kaido.
• Kaido snapped the Seastone chain around his wrist and began tearing through the chains restraining him.

Yaen used a sealing technique to imprison Kaido in a stone monument and planned to send him to Luo for research. Afterward, Yaen considered whether he could claim Kaido’s 4.6-billion bounty by turning in his horns.

• Kaido claimed he had prepared to resist Yaen’s flames, but Yaen said he had let him stand only to seal him again.
• Yaen bound Kaido with cloth, iron spikes, and the Bankin Taiho monument, leaving him alive but unable to move or speak.
• Yaen asked Corazon to arrange for Kuma to take Kaido to Luo’s laboratory, explaining that Kaido’s Lineage Factors and awakened Devil Fruit made him valuable for research.
• Corazon worried Kaido might escape, but Yaen explained that the technique sealed Kaido’s body and soul, and Fisher Tiger tested the restraint by punching him.
• Yaen removed Kaido’s horns and wondered whether he could exchange them with the Marines for Kaido’s bounty, while Corazon reminded him that he was a Marine Vice Admiral.

After the Revolutionary Army defeated Kaido and moved to take control of Wano Country, Yamato challenged Dragon to protect the country’s freedom and peace. Yaen watched from hiding and joked that Yamato had taken Corazon’s part.

• Fisher Tiger covered Kaido’s remaining exposed eye and told him he would never get a share of the bounty money.
• The Revolutionary Army hunted the Beast Pirates in Wano Country while Dragon dragged Kurozumi Orochi into the Flower Capital square and exposed his crimes.
• Dragon announced that Kaido had been defeated and promised to purge the remaining forces, then threatened to execute anyone who sheltered them.
• Yamato leaped from the crowd, identified herself as Kaido’s daughter, and challenged Dragon to a fight over Wano Country’s future.
• Yaen teased Corazon from a hiding place, saying Yamato had taken his original part.