Chapter Summaries

Capone Bege unleashed an empowered Buster Call against Crocodile, but Crocodile summoned a Sand Tornado that erased the bombardment and transformed the battlefield into a desert. With the tornado closing in, Bege sent out his Gangster Knights to attack.

• Capone Bege combined Teigu power, Overwrite, Armament Haki, and Flame Breathing to strengthen Big Father Castle’s cannons and shells.
• Bege fired all ten thousand cannons at Crocodile, devastating the battlefield in a massive bombardment.
• Crocodile summoned a gigantic Sand Tornado that absorbed the shells and stripped away their added powers.
• The tornado advanced toward Bege as the blasted city and battlefield became a vast desert.
• Bege ordered his Gangster Knights to charge, while Crocodile reflected that Bege reminded him of his former self.

Crocodile overwhelmed Capone Bege with his sand techniques and outlasted him in a battle that stretched into the next day. After Bege finally collapsed, Crocodile told him to follow him for another three years so he could become stronger.

• Crocodile’s quicksand swallowed the thousands of Mafia Knights Bege sent out from Big Father Castle.
• Bege concentrated the castle’s cannon fire on Crocodile’s Sand Tornado and broke it after hours of fighting, losing many cannons and much of his Haki.
• Crocodile immediately created another Sand Tornado and sent it against the battered castle.
• Bege resisted until his stamina, Haki, and other methods were exhausted, and Big Father Castle collapsed back into his human form.
• Crocodile stood over the defeated Bege and told him to follow him for another three years to become stronger.

Crocodile overwhelmed Capone Bege and transformed the surrounding terrain into a vast desert, prompting military leaders to recognize his strength as an admiral. Sengoku then argued that Crocodile’s fixation on awakening his Sand-Sand Fruit had become a mental barrier preventing him from reaching Colorless Haki.

• Crocodile defeated Capone Bege and turned more than a million square kilometers of terrain into desert.
• Crocodile invited the next challenger as military officers watched the broadcast and compared his strength with Bege’s.
• Sengoku, Tsuru, and Sakazuki assessed Crocodile’s control of his Devil Fruit and agreed that he had reached the peak of the admiral level.
• Raymond questioned why Crocodile had not advanced further, and Tsuru suggested he was waiting for an opportunity to break through.
• Sengoku said Crocodile’s obsession with achieving the Sand-Sand Fruit’s second awakening had become invisible shackles that kept him from awakening Colorless Haki.
• Sakazuki said Imu’s demonstration of Five Stars Unification had helped him and Kuzan enter the realm of second awakening sooner.

Sengoku explained that Crocodile might break his mental deadlock by fulfilling his wish to awaken the Sand-Sand Fruit a second time, potentially triggering a great leap in his Haki. In the virtual arena, Crocodile faced Army Admiral Doberman and easily countered his opening sword strike before Doberman launched another attack.

• Sengoku told Kong and Zephyr that Crocodile's obsession with a second Sand-Sand Fruit awakening might be the key to breaking his mental barrier and unleashing his Haki.
• Crocodile's second challenger, Army Admiral Doberman, appeared in the Paramount War exclusive plane and declared that he would take Crocodile's admiral position in the name of absolute justice.
• Doberman attacked with Wind Breathing and his Absolute Wind Sword Technique, but Crocodile's vibrating Sand Blade shattered the Wind Blade and narrowly missed Doberman.
• Doberman used Illusion: Wind Afterimage to send clones at Crocodile from the ground and air, and Crocodile answered with Sables.

Crocodile defeated Doberman with a devastating Sand Tornado, then faced Charlotte Daifuku, who summoned his Genie to challenge him. Crocodile countered with a Shukaku replica and ordered it to fight the Genie.

• Crocodile unleashed a Sand Tornado that destroyed the battlefield and forced Doberman to flee its range.
• Crocodile struck Doberman down, noted the abilities of his Teigu Storm Cutter, and said Doberman had lasted ten hours.
• Charlotte Daifuku appeared as the third challenger and declared he would win the fleet admiral position for his mother.
• Daifuku summoned his Genie and sent it slashing at Crocodile, but Crocodile used Observation Killing to blur Daifuku's Future Sight.
• Crocodile formed a Shukaku replica from sand and ordered it to play with Daifuku's Genie.
• Shukaku fired a Wind Release: Air Bullets attack at the Genie.

Crocodile used Shukaku to defeat Charlotte Daifuku after a prolonged battle and sealed him inside a sand pyramid. With three admirals defeated and the night wearing on, Crocodile called for the next challenger.

• Charlotte Daifuku summoned a thousand-plus Genie Legion, but Shukaku crushed their attacks with sand waves and Chakra-infused Air Bullets.
• Crocodile waited as Shukaku held off Daifuku and his Genies from noon until after two in the morning.
• Crocodile activated Shukaku’s Magnet Release, trapping Daifuku and the Genies in a rune-etched sand pit.
• Crocodile struck Daifuku into the pit with Shukaku’s Conqueror’s Haki-coated palm and sealed him inside a towering sand pyramid.
• Crocodile reviewed the defeats of Capone Bege, Doberman, and Charlotte Daifuku, then called for the next challenger.

Loki challenged Crocodile and fought him on equal footing with his warhammer, lightning, and Conqueror’s Haki. As the battle continued, the officers watching wondered whether Loki’s legendary Devil Fruit could let him overpower Crocodile.

• Loki arrived before Crocodile, eager for a fight, and wielded Elbaf’s legendary hammer, Ragnell, Iron Thunder.
• Loki struck the ground and unleashed lightning, but Crocodile countered with Desert Spada and pillars of sand.
• Loki coated Iron Thunder with Conqueror’s Haki and broke through Crocodile’s sand tornadoes, prompting Crocodile to attack proactively.
• Loki and Crocodile clashed across a vast continent, fighting on equal footing as their attacks devastated the landscape.
• Zephyr, Tsuru, Sengoku, Kong, and Raymond watched the battle and discussed Loki’s talent and lost years of growth.
• Raymond wondered whether Loki’s legendary Devil Fruit could give him the power to defeat Crocodile.

After nearly a day of fighting, Crocodile revealed a Sacred Mark and his alchemical power as Loki unleashed Elbaf’s forbidden Devil Fruit. Crocodile’s combined Haki and alchemy overwhelmed Loki, leaving the battle’s outcome poised in his favor.

• Loki and Crocodile fought through the night, with Loki gaining an advantage in strength but falling behind in Haki.
• Frustrated by Crocodile’s calm resistance, Loki awakened the forbidden power of his Devil Fruit and summoned a Demon God-like aura.
• Crocodile dissolved his golden hook and revealed a Sacred Mark, the Tree of Life pattern that granted him the power of alchemy.
• Imu learned that Truth had granted Crocodile the mark after he absorbed a Philosopher’s Stone and chose to pursue knowledge.
• Crocodile combined purple Conqueror’s Haki lightning with crimson alchemical lightning and sent vast sand tornadoes at Loki, overwhelming him.

Crocodile defeated Loki after using a National Transmutation Circle to drain his Haki during their fifty-two-hour battle. After a five-hour break, Onigumo appeared as the fourth challenger, determined to take the admiral's position.

• Crocodile activated a continent-wide National Transmutation Circle that steadily drained Loki's Haki while they fought.
• Loki battled Crocodile for fifty-two hours before collapsing unconscious in molten sand, and Crocodile called for the next challenger.
• Raymond, Tsuru, Sengoku, Zephyr, and Kong agreed to pause the Paramount War for five hours so Crocodile could rest.
• At eleven in the morning on May 23, Crocodile returned to the battlefield refreshed after the area had undergone spacetime reversal.
• Onigumo appeared before Crocodile, declared he would take the admiral's position for justice, and Crocodile challenged him to prove himself.

Onigumo fought Crocodile with his Eight-Sword Style, Crimson Blades, and Demon Aura, but Crocodile defeated him after a forty-hour battle. Crocodile called for the next challenger.

• Onigumo used his hair to wield six Nichirin Blades alongside Demon Cutter and Spider Cutter, coating the eight swords with Crimson Blade power and Demon Aura.
• Onigumo and Crocodile fought evenly for a time as Onigumo intercepted Crocodile’s sand attacks and Crocodile used refined techniques to counter him.
• Kong, Sengoku, and the other officers praised Onigumo’s strength, while Bullet recognized his Demon Aura as similar to his own Underworld Aura.
• After forty hours of fighting, Crocodile unleashed Desert Diamond Blade: Hundred Forms and shattered Onigumo’s defense, knocking him unconscious.
• Crocodile praised Onigumo, then looked toward the night sky and called for the next challenger.

While unconscious after his battle with Crocodile, Onigumo met Enma in the Underworld and accepted an inheritance of Demon Cry Swordsmanship and ghost-energy cultivation in exchange for spreading the practice within the Army. He received a powerful new sword and learned it could create seven convincing afterimages, leaving him equipped to enhance his Eight-Sword Style.

• Onigumo's defeat after fighting Crocodile for forty hours sparked discussion in the Army about his ghost energy.
• Onigumo's unconscious soul arrived in the Underworld, where Enma introduced herself as the Yellow Springs Goddess and ruler of the Sea Star Underworld.
• Enma offered Onigumo Demon Cry Swordsmanship, ghost-energy training, and Yellow Springs Water in exchange for promoting ghost energy and cultivating Demon-Howling Swordsmen.
• Onigumo accepted the bargain, and Enma transferred the inheritance's techniques and knowledge into his consciousness.
• Enma gave Onigumo Yellow Springs Shackles, a peerless sword that could turn his ghost energy into seven identical afterimages.

Onigumo returned from his encounter with Enma bearing the Yellow Springs Shackles, the Demon Cry Swordsmanship inheritance, and a divine basin for training swordsmen. As the military watched the Paramount War, Charlotte Cracker challenged Crocodile and unleashed his Biscuit Domain, but Crocodile dismissed his tactics and prepared to end the fight.

• Enma chose Onigumo to receive Yellow Springs Shackles and sent him back to the world of the living.
• Onigumo awoke in the Army Headquarters hospital and discovered the White Jade Yellow Springs Basin in his spatial ring.
• Onigumo resolved to use his new inheritance and resources to grow strong enough to catch up with Crocodile and the other admirals.
• The military leaders discussed Charlotte Cracker's talent and his longstanding fear of pain as he entered the arena to challenge Crocodile.
• Cracker declared that he had overcome his fear of injections and summoned tens of thousands of Biscuit Soldiers to surround Crocodile.
• Crocodile shredded the charging soldiers with a Sand Tornado, and Cracker expanded his Biscuit Domain before Crocodile decided to end the fight.

Crocodile overwhelmed Charlotte Cracker in battle, exploiting his fear of pain until Cracker fainted. Charlotte Oven and Charlotte Daifuku resolved to find a way to cure Cracker’s weakness, even if they had to eliminate his sense of pain.

• Crocodile’s Sand Blade struck Cracker’s Haki-coated biscuit shield wall, and Cracker briefly celebrated surviving the blow.
• Crocodile charged through Cracker’s biscuit army, tearing open its formation and forcing Cracker to face him directly.
• Crocodile outmatched Cracker in their sword fight, inflicting wounds that left Cracker howling in pain.
• Crocodile struck Cracker in the chest and abdomen, knocking him unconscious after he dropped Pretzel.
• Charlotte Oven and Charlotte Daifuku agreed they needed to cure Cracker’s fear of pain, even if that meant making him lose his sense of pain.

After discussing Cracker’s defeat, Navy leaders praised Crocodile’s Haki and speculated that his Observation Haki could see nearly ten seconds into the future. Crocodile waited at a rain-soaked coastline for his next challenger, Jozu, while Whitebeard’s family watched from headquarters and Teach doubted Jozu could win.

• Kong judged that Cracker’s inability to endure pain made him unfit for the rank of Admiral, and Tsuru offered to speak with Linlin about him.
• Zephyr praised Crocodile’s close-combat skill, while Sengoku estimated that Crocodile could foresee nearly ten seconds ahead and had an exceptionally wide range of Observation Haki.
• Crocodile waited calmly on the eastern coast as rain fell, keeping the area around himself dry and lighting a cigar.
• Jozu appeared as Crocodile’s next challenger, and officers considered him the strongest challenger yet and likely to last five days.
• Newgate and his children watched Jozu arrive and cheered him on, while Teach silently doubted Jozu could succeed.

Jozu challenged Crocodile and proved that his Diamond-powered strength could shatter Crocodile’s Sand Tornado and match him in a head-on clash. Crocodile revealed his Sacred Mark and began preparing the National Transmutation Circle, but Jozu charged to stop him before he could complete it.

• Jozu confronted Crocodile and declared that he had come to challenge him.
• Crocodile attacked with Sand Tornado, but Jozu transformed into a diamond titan and smashed it apart with Diamond: Explosive Fist.
• Jozu charged Crocodile with Diamond: Shining Crash, and their collision created a vast crater before they separated.
• Crocodile judged Jozu’s explosive punches powerful and decided to avoid further direct clashes.
• Crocodile’s golden hook turned to sand, revealing his hand and glowing Sacred Mark as he began forming the National Transmutation Circle.
• Jozu recognized the danger and rushed Crocodile, forcing him to abandon the circle and defend himself.

Crocodile fought Jozu while his sand clones completed a continent-spanning National Transmutation Circle that began draining Jozu’s Haki and exposing him to alchemical attacks. After ten hours, neither had won, but Crocodile controlled the battle, and the Paramount War continued.

• Crocodile stalled Jozu’s charge while five sand clones headed to distant nodes to construct the National Transmutation Circle.
• Jozu awakened his Diamond-Diamond Fruit and filled the battlefield with diamond spikes, but Crocodile’s Alchemical Lightning later broke down the diamonds after he analyzed them.
• Crocodile and Jozu continued fighting as the five clones activated the circle, which spread across nearly one hundred million square kilometers.
• Jozu realized the circle was draining his Haki and forcing him to maintain Haki Emission to protect himself from Crocodile’s alchemy.
• Crocodile and Jozu fought for ten hours without a victor, while Edward Newgate concluded that Crocodile’s strength and control made him nearly impossible to defeat within the circle.

After fifty-five hours of combat, Crocodile defeated Jozu by exhausting his Haki and turning him to stone, then prepared to face the next challenger. Back aboard Noah, Princess Lala returned and learned that her father, King Chido, would arrive in the Sea Star System on the twenty-eighth.

• Crocodile’s transmutation circle petrified Jozu after his Armament Haki ran out, ending their battle.
• Crocodile declared “Next” for the seventh time, and Kong ordered him to rest for four hours.
• Imu watched Crocodile recover on a screen while Stussy trained Nicole Robin aboard Noah.
• Princess Lala returned to Imu and asked where her father was.
• Imu told Lala that King Chido’s fleet would arrive in the Sea Star System the day after tomorrow, on the twenty-eighth.

Lala returned from traveling the Grand Line and entertained Imu and the others with stories of her adventures, while Imu considered inviting notable figures from her world to Sea Star. The eighth Paramount War began at midnight on May 27, where Crocodile faced Charlotte Oven and claimed he would fight without alchemy.

• Lala told Imu about her travels, including setting a new ramen-eating record in Wano Island and meeting Shinobu Kocho, Uta, and others.
• Lala recounted mishaps involving her medical device and alien sea monsters, then shared how she helped Uta with her ambitions to become a star.
• Imu considered the abilities and value of Lala's family and other people from her world, and looked forward to King Chido's arrival.
• Four hours later, the eighth Paramount War began, and Crocodile encountered Charlotte Oven in the forest.
• Oven threatened to burn Crocodile's alchemy work, but Crocodile said he did not need alchemy and raised his golden hook.

Crocodile and Charlotte Oven fought for nearly a day across a devastated landscape of magma and sand. Oven disrupted the National Transmutation Circle with precise heat, but Crocodile remained confident that his Stigmata alchemy and leyline connection would let him defeat Oven.

• Oven unleashed the Heat-Heat Fruit and transformed the surrounding terrain into magma, while Crocodile awakened his Sand-Sand Fruit and created a desert to meet it.
• Oven and Crocodile battled fiercely with Haki, Devil Fruit powers, alchemy, and Oven’s Tiger-Flame Whirling-Tail Naginata for nearly twenty-four hours.
• Crocodile sent five sand clones away to begin constructing the National Transmutation Circle while he kept fighting Oven.
• Oven used Heat Manipulation: Leyline Severance to disrupt the underground energy and halt the nearly completed circle.
• Crocodile declared that he could still use alchemy and draw on the leylines, then collided with Oven in a renewed contest of strength, Haki, and will.

Chido King arrived at Sea Star with his fleet while the Marines formed a defensive line under Kuzan’s command. After Lala reunited with her father, Sastin reported the World Government’s strength and Imu’s power to merge planets, leaving Chido King to consider the scale of Sea Star’s capabilities.

• Marine patrols detected Chido King’s fleet, and Kuzan ordered nearby Warships to assemble while forbidding anyone to fire first.
• Chido King observed the Marine fleet and praised the strength of the officers aboard its ships.
• Lala arrived at Chido King’s flagship and happily told him about her experiences and friends on Sea Star.
• Chido King asked Sastin for a report on the World Government, and Sastin described its Star Gate, otherworld conquests, powerful combatants, and Imu’s planet-merging feat.