Chapter Summaries

Iska and the Marines attacked the Cutlass Pirates, whose disciplined forces turned the boarding attempt into a one-sided slaughter. As waves of Marines fell to rotating musket volleys, the wounded Iska begged her subordinates to stop charging.

• A sniper shot a Marine, and Iska learned that the approaching Cutlass Pirates had more than two hundred fighters.
• The Marines fired cannon volleys, damaging the enemy ship but failing to stop it from closing in.
• Iska led the Marines across planks onto the pirate ship, where they found more than a hundred pirates ranked with muskets.
• The first sixteen pirates fired together, killing or wounding the Marines who had boarded.
• Fresh groups of sixteen pirates took turns firing into each wave of Marines, while wounded Iska begged her subordinates to stop and cried out against the slaughter.

Leo's volley-fire formation overwhelmed Iska's Marines, forcing them to surrender and giving the Cutlass Pirates confidence in their strength. The battle ended with Ace tending to Iska's wound as she clung to him.

• Leo's formation fired repeated volleys that killed more than thirty Marines and stopped their advance.
• Leo ordered the pirates to move forward in formation and aim their muskets at the remaining Marines.
• Iska, wounded in the thigh, called for her men to surrender, and Leo said their fate depended on whether they laid down their weapons.
• The Marines began dropping their weapons, and the Cutlass Pirates celebrated their victory by shouting Leo's name.
• Ace jumped down beside Iska and pressed on her wound, and she recognized him and clung to his waist while crying.

After defeating the Marines, Leo ordered the pirates to restrain prisoners and treat the wounded, then operated on a few Marines to remove lodged bullets. The chapter ended with their survival uncertain after Leo stitched their wounds closed.

• Leo ended the pirates’ victory celebration, ordered them to take ten lashes after the battle, and assigned them to restrain Marines and treat the wounded.
• Ace carried Iska to Masked for treatment while the pirates tended to other injured Marines, though some died from their wounds.
• Leo treated Marines with lodged bullets, explaining their options and operating on a few whose injuries were in their torsos.
• The onlookers applauded as Leo removed the bullets, and he stitched the wounds while hoping the Marines would survive.

Leo established his authority over the Cutlass Pirates by directing their treatment of the Marines and handling of the spoils. He formed the pirates up and announced that he would honor his promise to let them leave after they departed the Calm Belt.

• Leo oversaw the pirates as they treated wounded Marines, secured prisoners, counted loot, and searched the Marine ship for Log Poses and documents.
• The Empress and her sisters emerged from the cabin while Leo hurried between tasks, and Iska asked Masked who Leo was.
• Masked and Ace explained that Leo had orchestrated the Marines’ defeat, while the Spade Pirates described his transformation of the pirates into an army as magic.
• Leo called the pirates into formation, praised their training, and reminded them that he had promised they could leave after the ship departed the Calm Belt.

Leo challenged the pirates and Marines to question the world that had driven people into piracy, then urged the exploited to unite and fight for a better future. He left them weighing whether to return to their old lives or risk everything for their descendants.

• Leo declared that the Cutlass Pirates were free but asked whether they wanted to become stronger in a different way.
• Leo argued that pirates and Marines were trapped in a cycle of violence and described how people could pursue the lives they wanted if the world were just.
• Barbaro, Todlin, Wood, Chalin, and Gabon explained that debt, orphanhood, nobles, the king, and Heavenly Gold had driven them to piracy.
• Leo named landlords, nobles, royalty, corrupt Marines, the World Government, and the Celestial Dragons as exploiters who created people with nothing.
• Leo urged the pirates to unite, take up arms, and choose between returning home to be exploited or fighting for their descendants, then waited for their answer.

Leo’s speech inspired pirates and disillusioned Marines to join his cause, while Iska struggled between her emotions and her duty. The chapter ended with pirates and Marines forming ranks together as one group.

• Leo asked those willing to follow him to step forward, and all ninety-eight pirates moved together.
• Six badly wounded Marines begged Leo to take them with him, saying nobles had killed their families and they had become the nobles’ dogs.
• Around forty or fifty bound Marines struggled to their feet and asked to join Leo’s group.
• Iska felt drawn to the group but fought the urge, believing that joining them would betray the Marines.
• Leo ordered those who wished to join to fall in, and the wounded and bound Marines formed rows alongside the pirates.

Ace, the Spade Pirates, and former Marines joined Leo’s new revolutionary organization, which aimed to overthrow the World Government through open, careful, and sustained action. Leo laid out a plan to build strength, recruit allies, dismantle the World Government’s influence, and finally destroy the Marines.

• Ace joined the formation, and the Spade Pirates followed him to stand together as part of the Revolutionary Army.
• The three Empress sisters watched the formation and embraced the goal of revolution against the Marines, the World Government, and the Celestial Dragons.
• Ace urged Iska to leave the Marines, criticizing their failure to punish corruption and crimes against civilians.
• Iska joined the ranks, and the Marines who had already defected looked to her with hope.
• Leo rejected assassination as their path and described a plan to build power, win allies, dismantle the World Government’s reach, and crush the World Marines.

Leo taught the gathered pirates and Navy soldiers that revolution would not succeed until its ideas spread throughout the world, and that they needed to preserve themselves while preparing. The lesson ended with William asking whether they could spread those ideas more quickly.

• Leo reflected that Dragon’s revolutionary strategy had failed to secure gains and that the Revolutionary Army had been scattered after the government destroyed its headquarters.
• The ships resumed their voyage toward Jaya Island, and Leo began teaching the assembled crews and Navy soldiers each evening.
• Iska asked when the time would be right for revolution, and Leo replied that it would never come if they did nothing to spread revolutionary ideas.
• Leo explained that people remained divided and uninformed, so revolutionaries had to plant and protect the seeds of revolution across the world.
• William asked whether there was a way to spread those ideas more quickly.

Leo laid out a long-term plan to transform the Marines from within by scattering loyal recruits across the Four Seas and recruiting others discreetly. He warned them that a once-in-a-century pirate tide was approaching and urged them to learn Haki before they went their separate ways.

• Leo told Iska to return to the Marines pretending her group had been defeated and to recruit promising allies through careful, long-term observation.
• Leo instructed Iska and the other recruits to train in Haki, seek assignments in Marine branches across the Four Seas, and avoid contacting one another after they scattered.
• Leo warned that some recruits might betray the revolution as they gained rank, wealth, and influence.
• Leo told the Marines to memorize his lessons without taking notes and to adapt his teachings to their future posts.
• Leo cautioned that a once-in-a-century pirate tide was coming and that the new generation of pirates could threaten their lives.

Leo taught the Marines about rebellion, military tactics, and the Celestial Dragons’ exploitation of ordinary people. He revealed that he had once been enslaved by the Celestial Dragons and described their cruelty, leaving his listeners horrified.

• Leo explained why he kept the Revolutionary Army’s plans secret from its undercover agents and taught them military training methods instead.
• Leo argued that ordinary people created value while the Celestial Dragons and other nobles profited from taxes and Heavenly Gold.
• Leo called the Marines the Celestial Dragons’ dogs and asked whether they had to submit to them.
• Leo revealed that he had once been a Celestial Dragon’s slave, shocking the listeners.
• Leo described Celestial Dragons abusing their wives and a Skin Peeler who collected the skin of living people.

Leo taught his listeners to identify the people and institutions responsible for the world’s exploitation, arguing that the Celestial Dragons’ Heavenly Gold drove ordinary families into bankruptcy and violence. He left them with an assignment to consider whether the Marines and World Government could escape responsibility by blaming the Celestial Dragons.

• Leo used household income and taxes to explain how Heavenly Gold and other levies left ordinary families with too little to survive.
• Leo argued that people unable to earn enough were driven into bankruptcy, piracy, or service in the Marines while their true exploiters profited.
• Leo taught that revolutionaries should distinguish potential allies from steadfast enemies and deal with each accordingly.
• Leo declared the Celestial Dragons enemies because their system of extraction caused mass poverty and chaos.
• Leo warned that the Marines and World Government could not be absolved by blaming the Celestial Dragons, then assigned everyone to think about their responsibility before the next lesson.

Leo’s trainees debated whether Marines and pirates could share ideas and become comrades, then Ace argued that some Marines could be their friends despite serving an evil institution. Leo left them with a new question: who were their friends?

• The Marines and pirates trained under Leo and spent the night arguing about their beliefs and loyalties.
• Leo continued their demanding training and taught them by example despite his frail constitution.
• Leo called on Ace to explain his thoughts about the Marines.
• Ace said that Marines such as Iska and the others could become friends if they adopted their ideas and broke free from their superiors’ control.
• Leo praised Ace and asked the group, “Who are our friends?”

Leo trained the Marines in Observation Haki during their fifteen days together, identifying those with talent before they neared Jaya Island. As they prepared to part, Leo warned them they might remain undercover for years or their whole lives and kept their identities in memory without recording their destinations.

• Leo explained how Rokushiki related to Haki and said he would focus on finding talented Marines to train.
• Leo blindfolded the Marines, covered their ears, and threw rocks at them to help them awaken Observation Haki.
• The Marines who showed talent learned to evade Leo’s attacks, first rocks and later his sword, over the course of ten days.
• As the group approached Jaya Island on the fifteenth day, Leo prepared the Marines for a long separation and possible lifelong undercover service.
• Leo memorized the Marines’ names and faces but chose not to record where they went afterward.

After parting from Iska and the Marines, Leo led his pirate comrades toward Jaya Island, where they planned to continue their journey toward Sky Island. The group arrived at the pirate gathering town of Mock Town, ready to carry out their next steps.

• Leo privately briefed Iska on undercover work, secrecy, and her role as a key Marine comrade.
• Ace said goodbye to Iska before she led the Marines back to their nearest base.
• Leo and the pirates continued toward Jaya Island aboard three ships.
• Leo explained that Jaya Island was a stop on the route to Sky Island and that Mock Town was a gathering place for pirates.
• After two months at sea, Leo reached Jaya Island and asked the hundred pirates if they understood what to do; they answered in unison.

Leo and the Pirate Revolutionary Army began their operation to seize Mock Town, while Hancock and the Empress's sisters moved to seal off the harbor and exits. The pirates' first attack failed to shake Leo's soldiers, whose discipline left Mock Town's defenders facing an apparently immovable force.

• Leo ordered the pirates in Mock Town to surrender, warning that those who resisted would be killed.
• Leo deployed the Pirate Revolutionary Army to block the main entrance and harbor, while Ran, Rindou, Sandersonia, and Marigold went to seal the other exits.
• Hancock petrified many pirates at the docks with her Love-Love Mellow, leaving the remaining crew members unable to sail their ships away.
• Mock Town's pirates fired on the Revolutionary Army, but the soldiers held formation and even the wounded calmly continued to follow orders.

Leo led the Pirate Revolutionary Army through Mock Town, where Michael and an opposing sniper exchanged shots before Leo ordered his troops to overwhelm the pirates with disciplined volleys. The hidden pirates charged during the reload, but the Revolutionary Army fired again, cutting them down.

• A sniper fired at the Pirate Revolutionary Army, and Michael deflected the shot with his rifle.
• The opposing sniper shot at Michael, and the two marksmen traded another round of bullets before recognizing each other’s skill.
• Leo ordered the soldiers to advance ten steps, then commanded them to fire on targets across the street and in the buildings.
• Pirates rushed out from Mock Town’s buildings to attack while the Revolutionary Army reloaded.
• Leo’s soldiers fired again, striking the charging pirates with a synchronized volley.

Van Augur watched the Pirate Revolutionary Army’s disciplined rifle formations while Ace stopped Bellamy from breaking through to Leo. The pirates began fleeing, and a young girl hiding in Mock Town decided to escape the fighting.

• Van Augur observed the Revolutionary Army’s rotating gun lines and chose to keep fighting Michael.
• Bellamy charged into the Revolutionary Army’s ranks, but Ace intercepted him and protected Leo’s firing line.
• Ace used Observation Haki to evade Bellamy’s spring-powered attack and knocked him unconscious.
• The Revolutionary Army’s crossfire repelled the pirates, and groups of them began fleeing through Mock Town.
• A young girl hiding behind a building watched the army and decided to leave the dangerous area.

Nico Robin watched Leo’s forces crush the pirates in Mock Town and searched for a chance to escape. When the fighting ended without a counterattack, she revealed herself and asked to meet their leader.

• Leo ordered his soldiers to advance and attack the fleeing pirates in squads.
• Nico Robin hid in an alley and used her ability to observe Marigold and another Kuja warrior routing pirates at the exits.
• Robin judged that the pirates might rally for a final assault, intending to use the chaos to escape.
• The soldiers captured or defeated the pirates, and the gunfire gradually stopped without a counterattack.
• A person on a roof spotted Robin, who introduced herself and asked to meet the leader.

The Pirate Revolutionary Army secured Mock Town and treated wounded fighters while Nico Robin observed their methods. Her presence in the town surprised Leo, who wondered why she had not joined Crocodile.

• The Pirate Revolutionary Army finished searching Mock Town and gathered captured pirates under armed guard.
• The army treated its own wounded first, then began treating the pirates, with doctors performing surgery openly in the square.
• Masked explained to Nico Robin that the army was using the injured pirates to gain medical experience.
• Nico Robin was astonished to find surgery being performed in the street, while Leo was surprised that she was in Mock Town.

Leo brought Nico Robin before his army and appointed her Minister of the Propaganda Department, confident she would join them. Van Augur also pledged himself to Leo, who welcomed him into the organization.

• Masked brought Nico Robin to meet Leo, while Hancock stepped closer to him and watched Robin warily.
• Nico Robin recognized Hancock as the Pirate Empress and carefully showed her respect as she assessed Leo and his army.
• Leo told Nico Robin she would become his Minister of the Propaganda Department, shocking her, Ace, Masked, and the others.
• Leo confidently predicted that Nico Robin would come to understand and wholeheartedly join his organization.
• Van Augur stepped forward, knelt before Leo, and asked to join; Leo pulled him up and welcomed him.