Chapter Summaries

Ares endured Cloud’s attacks with swordless slashes, then escaped a snaring cloud net by burning it with dragon flame. As Cloud began a third technique, Saint Christine weighed whether to eliminate Ares or use him against Rocks, while Kaido recognized the vast gap between their strength.

• Ares held off Cloud’s endless Haki-coated spears with powerful swordless slashes, and Cloud praised his skill.
• Cloud trapped Ares in elastic cloud ropes, but Ares burned them away with Dragon Flame.
• Saint Christine considered killing Ares or using him to undermine Rocks and the Rocks Pirates.
• Kaido judged Cloud’s combat power to be greater than a Marine Buster Call and acknowledged his own weakness beside Ares and Cloud.
• Cloud began Heavenly God Descends, declaring that Ares would like the move.

Ares fought CP0 Chief Cloud as Cloud formed enormous cloud fists and feet, but Ares matched his attacks with Dragon's Roar Wave. Cloud then trapped Ares in an airless enclosure, and Ares searched for a way through before he ran out of oxygen.

• Cloud turned the sky into a vast sea of clouds and attacked Ares with a giant Armament Haki fist called God's Hand.
• Ares countered with Dragon's Roar Wave, and the attacks collided in a draw.
• Cloud sent down more giant fists and feet, while Ares repeatedly shattered them with Dragon's Roar Wave.
• Cloud sealed Ares inside the World of Clouds and began stripping the air from the enclosure.
• Ares's flames vanished, and his sword slash struck explosive cloud bubbles without breaking through the wall as he struggled to breathe.

Cloud trapped Ares in an airless cloud prison, but Ares transformed into an enormous dragon and broke through its explosive walls. Ares emerged into the sky, leaving Saint Christine dissatisfied with Cloud’s promise to end the fight quickly.

• Kaido nervously watched Cloud’s cloud prison while cheering for Ares, and Saint Christine reconsidered his plan to infiltrate the Rocks Pirates with Cloud.
• Saint Christine ordered Cloud to finish Ares quickly, and Cloud claimed that Ares would soon suffocate in the airless prison.
• Cloud explained that explosive cloud bubbles and the lack of oxygen prevented Ares from escaping or using his attacks effectively.
• Ares transformed into an azure dragon and used his body as a massive sword to pierce through the thick cloud wall and escape.
• Ares roared as air returned to his body, while Kaido celebrated his escape and Saint Christine challenged Cloud over his failed prediction.

Ares broke through Cloud’s World of Clouds, forcing Saint Christine to abandon the operation and retreat with Cloud. Ares and Kaido remained aboard the wrecked World Government ship, searching for a way back to Hachinosu Island as another pirate ship approached.

• Cloud admitted to Saint Christine that he could not defeat Ares quickly, while Ares continued attacking him with Dragon Flame.
• Saint Christine received word that Ochoku and Silver Axe had entered the Sword Sea, canceled the operation, and ordered Cloud to retreat with him.
• Saint Christine told Cloud that Ares had become strong enough to contend with a Marine admiral and directed him to take them to Mary Geoise so he could report his plan to the Five Elders.
• Ares let Saint Christine and Cloud escape, then told Kaido he wanted Newgate and Big Brother Shiki to help him train his Observation Haki.
• Kaido said he had killed everyone aboard, including the Celestial Dragon, and went searching the cabins for a map as another pirate ship approached.

Ares reflected on his battle with Cloud as Ochoku and Silver Axe found him aboard the World Government ship carrying the Heavenly Gold. The Rocks Pirates reunited with Ares and Kaido, who confirmed the treasure was still aboard, while Ares warned Ochoku about the powerful enemies who had escaped.

• Ares reviewed his fight with Cloud and studied the CP0 Chief’s abilities as lessons for his own growth.
• Ochoku and Silver Axe spotted the damaged World Government ship and sailed toward it to investigate.
• Ochoku recognized Ares aboard the ship, and the two shouted greetings across the sea before reuniting on deck.
• Ares told Ochoku and Silver Axe about his past year, and Kaido emerged and happily greeted them.
• Kaido revealed he had found a large amount of treasure in the cabin, and the pirates celebrated learning it was the Heavenly Gold.
• Ares told Ochoku that Cloud and Saint Christine had escaped, describing their strength and warning that both were formidable.

After Ares and Kaido returned to the Rocks Pirates with Ochoku and Silver Axe, the crew celebrated a huge haul from the Heavenly Gold ship. Meanwhile, Saint Christine proposed a scheme to the Five Elders: make Rocks believe Ares had become a World Government agent.

• Ochoku praised Ares for contending with the CP0 Chief, while Kaido boasted about his and Ares's training and hoped to become a Rocks Pirates officer.
• Ochoku told Ares that Newgate and Shiki had missed him and that Captain Rocks would reward him for disrupting the ambush; Ares said he wanted to see Newgate and Shiki again.
• Silver Axe reported that the crew had seized treasure worth 20 billion Berries, and Ochoku stopped him from taking Ares to indulge in women and wine.
• Ares and Kaido boarded the pirate ship and returned with Ochoku and Silver Axe to Hachinosu Island.
• Saint Christine reported his encounter with Ares to the two Five Elders, who noted Ares's admiral-level strength, Mythical Zoan ability, and potential.
• Saint Christine proposed making Rocks believe Ares was a World Government agent, and one of the Five Elders asked him to explain the plan.

Saint Christine persuaded the Five Elders to let him lead a plan to sow distrust between Ares and Rocks and fracture the Rocks Pirates. Meanwhile, Ares trained aboard the returning ship, astonishing Ochoku and the other pirates with his fire-based regimen.

• Saint Christine proposed exploiting Ares's disappearance to make Rocks suspect that Ares was a World Government spy and provoke conflict within the Rocks Pirates.
• The Five Elders approved the plan, promised Christine a seat among them if he succeeded, and discussed carrying it out alongside their other schemes against Rocks.
• Aboard the ship returning with Ochoku and the others, Ares trained inside roaring flames, driving Silver Axe and the other pirates into the cabin.
• Ochoku worried that the flames would permanently damage Ares, but Ares and Kaido assured him that the training was safe and had greatly improved Ares's strength and heat resistance.
• Kaido reflected on how far Ares had surpassed him, and Ochoku advised him to focus on living as himself.

After returning to Hachinosu Island from months of brutal body-quenching training, Ares set out with Wang Zhi to ask Rocks about using Conqueror's Haki. Charlotte Linlin intercepted the group and asked Kaido to have children with her.

• Wang Zhi and Kaido admired Ares's progress as he continued tempering his body in flames and estimated he would need another year or two to finish the process.
• After several hours of training, Ares cooled himself in the sea, then returned to Hachinosu Island with the others four or five days later.
• Ares noticed Hachinosu Island's new patrol ships and fortified harbor, and saw that Whitebeard and Golden Lion had not yet returned.
• Wang Zhi led Ares toward Skull Castle so he could ask Rocks about techniques for using Conqueror's Haki, while Kaido waited to hear what Ares learned.
• Charlotte Linlin stopped Ares, Wang Zhi, and the others, then asked Kaido to come have children with her.

Kaido refused Charlotte Linlin’s demand to go with her and pledged to follow Ares, prompting Linlin to attack Ares at Skull Castle. Ochoku blocked her first blow, but Linlin summoned Fire Hozmi—Prometheus, leaving him in danger.

• Charlotte Linlin pressured Kaido with her Soul-Soul Fruit and demanded that he go with her.
• Ares encouraged Kaido to refuse, and Kaido declared that he would follow Ares for the rest of his life.
• Linlin grew furious at Kaido’s refusal, while Ochoku tried to calm her and sent the onlookers away.
• Ares stood between Kaido and Linlin and challenged her, reminding her that he had stolen her Devil Fruit a year earlier.
• Linlin summoned Napoleon and swung at Ares, but Ochoku blocked the strike with his greatsword.
• Linlin summoned Fire Hozmi—Prometheus, and Ochoku realized he was in danger.

Ares intervened when Linlin attacked Ochoku, then struck her hard enough to stop her rampage. The children discovered that Ares's bounty had soared to 2.2 billion Berries, and Linlin acknowledged that his monstrous strength had surpassed hers.

• Prometheus attacked Ochoku, but Ares cut through the flames and told Ochoku to leave Linlin to him.
• Ares dodged Linlin's sweeping blade and punched her in the face, knocking her to the ground.
• Katakuri admired Ares's punch while Perospero insisted that Linlin's natural toughness would leave her unharmed.
• Charlotte Compote showed Perospero Ares's new bounty poster, revealing a bounty of 2.2 billion Berries and astonishing the children.
• Linlin rose from the dust with her rampage ended, recognized Ares's improved strength, and realized his monstrous strength had surpassed hers.

Ares fought Linlin and revealed that his strength, durability, and Haki had grown dramatically. Rocks decided to let the battle continue so Ares could prove himself as a potential captain of the Rocks Pirates.

• Linlin attacked Ares with Napoleon, but he blocked her slash with Blood-colored Armament and met her strikes with overwhelming strength.
• Linlin summoned Zeus to strike Ares with lightning, but Ares destroyed the bolt with his Sword of Hades technique.
• Linlin engulfed Ares in Prometheus's flames, but he stood unharmed, astonishing Katakuri, Perospero, and Captain John.
• Rocks watched Ares fight and judged that he had grown strong enough to stand alongside the Rocks Pirates' top combatants.
• Captain John urged Rocks to stop the fight, but Rocks refused, saying Ares needed to prove himself through strength.

Ares fought Linlin to demonstrate his strength to the Rocks Pirates, blasting her away with a flaming punch and blocking her Elbaf Spear without injury. Ochoku wondered how far Ares had developed his unusual Armament Haki, while Katakuri decided to ask Ares to train him so he could protect his siblings.

• Rocks said Ares could become an officer if he earned the other pirates' recognition through his strength.
• Ares used Soru to land a flaming punch that sent Linlin crashing through buildings hundreds of meters away.
• Katakuri told Perospero he would ask Ares to take him as a disciple so he could grow strong enough to protect his younger siblings.
• Linlin fired an Elbaf Spear at Ares from the dust, and he chose to face it head-on with his blood-red Armament Haki.
• Ares emerged unharmed after blocking the attack without using his Devil Fruit, and Ochoku wondered what other techniques he had developed.

Ares and Linlin exchanged devastating attacks after he declared his slashes stronger, and Ares defeated her by smashing into her with his body. Linlin rose and explained her desire to create a giant family, while Ares insisted that no one could force Kaido to do anything.

• Ares claimed his slashes were several times stronger than Linlin’s and prepared to attack.
• Linlin combined Zeus, Prometheus, and her sword to unleash Maser Saber as Ares charged with his Swordless Style—Drawing Slash.
• Ares endured Linlin’s attack and crashed into her, sending her flying nearly two thousand meters before both fighters landed.
• Ares declared that no one could bully or force his younger brother Kaido to do anything.
• Linlin revealed that she wanted a huge family of giants because her own family had abandoned her, and said she would make everyone in the world gigantic.

Ares fought Linlin after she went berserk, while Kaido blamed himself for being too weak to help and vowed to protect Ares. Rocks stopped the battle and promoted Ares to captain of the Rocks Pirates’ 16th Division.

• Linlin fired a high-speed Resonance Light Cannon that blasted Ares into the ground, but he quickly recovered and charged back into the fight.
• Kaido felt guilty watching Ares fight for him, and Ochoku encouraged him to protect Ares whenever he was vulnerable.
• Kaido vowed to protect Ares, whom he regarded as his only family, as pirates gathered to watch Ares and Linlin’s destructive battle.
• Ares relished the direct combat and grew more formidable as Linlin struggled against his strength, toughness, and regeneration.
• Rocks and Captain John arrived and stopped the fight, and Rocks announced Ares’s promotion to captain of the 16th Division.

Rocks made Ares a captain of the Rocks Pirates’ Sixteenth Division after no one dared challenge him, and Ares asked Rocks to teach him how to use Conqueror’s Haki. Rocks explained its techniques and said even he had not reached the limit of his body’s development.

• Captain John supported Rocks’s decision and invited the pirates to challenge Ares for the officer position, but nobody stepped forward.
• Rocks named Ares captain of the Sixteenth Division, and Linlin agreed to end her conflict with Ares after Rocks offered her other people instead of Kaido.
• Ochoku, Kaido, and Silver Axe congratulated Ares, and Kaido and the others went to prepare a celebratory banquet as Ares headed to Skull Castle.
• Ares asked Rocks about Conqueror’s Haki, and Rocks explained how to use it to overwhelm enemies or coat the body and weapons.
• Rocks told Ares that Conqueror’s Haki grew with strength and spirit, and admitted he had not fully developed his own body’s potential.

Rocks explained to Ares how to combine Conqueror’s Haki with Armament Haki, while admitting that Ares gave him more confidence against the World Government. After her defeat, Linlin resolved to become stronger and asked Streusen to teach her swordsmanship, leaving them ready to begin training.

• Rocks taught Ares to use Armament Haki to bind and release Conqueror’s Haki, and Ares thanked him for the lesson.
• Rocks said Ares gave him more confidence in opposing the World Government.
• After losing to Ares, Linlin rejected Streusen’s advice to let the conflict go and vowed to become stronger.
• Linlin asked Streusen to teach her every sword technique he knew, and he agreed eagerly.
• Linlin said that gaining absolute strength would let her make anyone she wanted bear her children, then told Streusen to start training her immediately.

Ares’s new 2.2 billion Berries bounty spread across the seas, revealing that he had returned after a year. Whitebeard Newgate and Golden Lion Shiki eagerly set their sights on seeing him again, while Douglas Bullet heard of Ares and resolved to go to sea once he gained his freedom.

• A wanted poster announced that Blood Hand - Ares had received a 2.2 billion Berries bounty, the second-highest on the seas.
• Whitebeard Newgate saw Ares’s poster, celebrated his return, and ordered his crew to sail to Hachinosu Island for a banquet.
• Golden Lion Shiki spared an enemy after spotting Ares’s face in a newspaper and decided to return to Hachinosu Island to see him.
• Douglas Bullet heard children discuss Ares’s bounty and silently resolved to go to sea and learn how powerful such pirates were once he was free.

The Roger Pirates learned that Ares had stolen the Heavenly Gold and killed a Celestial Dragon, while Rayleigh resolved to face him again after a year of training. On Hachinosu Island, Ares agreed to let young Katakuri train alongside him, leaving Katakuri determined to grow stronger.

• Garp told Roger that Ares had stolen the Heavenly Gold and killed a Celestial Dragon, then Prodi scolded Garp for revealing classified information.
• Roger and Rayleigh discussed meeting Ares again, and Rayleigh vowed not to disappoint him in their next battle.
• On Hachinosu Island, Katakuri asked Ares to teach him how to become stronger, but Ares said he had no time to teach him.
• Katakuri asked to train alongside Ares, and Ares allowed it while telling him to learn through his own efforts.
• Kaido mocked Katakuri's ambition, but Katakuri insisted that hard work would make him stronger.

Kaido and Katakuri argued about who would be stronger, then Katakuri set out to earn Ares's recognition by training beside him. After witnessing Ares's extreme flame training and joining Kaido in self-conditioning, Ares began working on a way to contain his Conqueror's Haki with Blood-colored Armament.

• Kaido and Katakuri traded boasts about their future strength, while Ares watched their quarrel with amusement.
• Katakuri woke before dawn and waited outside Ares's room for hours before learning that Ares had gone to train in the mountains.
• Katakuri followed the sound of Ares's training and found him exercising inside scorching flames, but Kaido carried him away before the heat could badly dehydrate him.
• Kaido told Katakuri to train from a safer distance, then struck his own body with an iron club as Katakuri imitated him with a branch despite the pain.
• Ares finished his flame training and considered how to project his Blood-colored Armament so he could use it to contain the power of Conqueror's Haki.

Ares practiced releasing Armament Haki while Kaido stopped Katakuri from injuring himself with excessive training and explained how Ares had built his strength. After Kaido carried Katakuri into town, pirates eager to join Ares’s Division challenged Kaido, and Zhīyīn Kūn stepped forward to fight him.

• Ares repeatedly practiced releasing his blood-colored Armament Haki, learning to keep it condensed before trying to project it outward.
• Kaido stopped Katakuri’s brutal self-training and told him to build his body gradually using basic exercises and methods Ares had used.
• Katakuri asked about Ares’s training, then fainted from blood loss, so Kaido carried him to town.
• Pirates surrounded Kaido and clamored to join Ares’s Division after hearing about Ares’s victory over Charlotte Linlin and promotion to Captain of the 16th Division.
• Kaido challenged the pirates to prove themselves by beating him and punched one who insulted him.
• Zhīyīn Kūn transformed into a large black rooster and challenged Kaido, hoping to join Ares’s Division.