Chapter Summaries

Imu possessed Blackbeard after revealing that it had controlled Rocks D. Zebek to hunt Blackbeard and his mother at God Valley. Imu-Blackbeard emerged from the Flower Room as a new composite entity.

• Blackbeard pleaded with Imu to work together, but Imu decided it had no time to cultivate him and began forcing its will into his mind.
• Blackbeard resisted the possession through his fierce ambition and the stubbornness of his Davy bloodline.
• Imu called Blackbeard Rocks D. Teach and revealed that it had controlled Rocks D. Zebek to pursue Blackbeard and his mother at God Valley.
• Blackbeard's buried memories and rage at Imu overwhelmed his mental defenses, allowing Imu to transfer its power into his body.
• Imu's shadows disappeared from the couch, and a strange-smiling Marshall D. Teach rose as the Imu-Blackbeard composite entity.

Imu took possession of Blackbeard’s body and tested its powers in the Flower Room as the Holy Land prepared for an attack. He dismissed Gunko’s report and waited for Gern Reginald Sigma, treating the coming battle as the only matter that concerned him.

• Gunko entered the Flower Room and found Imu occupying Blackbeard’s body.
• Imu demonstrated Blackbeard’s Dark-Dark Fruit, Tremor-Tremor Fruit, and Conqueror’s Haki, and said the body had ended the pain caused by strange flames.
• Gunko reported the Holy Land’s defenses and Marine Headquarters’ preparations for a major offensive, but Imu rebuked her for bringing him their problems.
• Imu told Gunko to let the Five Elders and God’s Knights handle everything else while he waited for Heavenquake.
• Gunko left the Flower Room fearing the Holy Land could fall, while Imu sat down and waited for Gern Reginald Sigma.

Buggy faced Samuel Kronos’s plea to join the Cross Guild as Crocodile and Redfield weighed the threat posed by Gern Reginald Sigma’s Navy. He handed Samuel over to the Navy and declared the Cross Guild’s opposition to the World Government, leaving the guild’s leaders to accept his pragmatic decision.

• Samuel Kronos begged Buggy to shelter him from the Navy after the Blackbeard Pirates were defeated.
• Crocodile described how Gern’s Navy had helped destroy powerful pirate crews and toppled the Five Elders.
• Redfield recalled nearly dying when Akainu and Bullet hunted him, warning that the Navy could threaten even Emperor-Class fighters.
• Buggy declared himself the only phoenix left and portrayed the Cross Guild as a sanctuary for oppressed pirates.
• Buggy ordered his guards to cuff and deliver Samuel to a Navy G-Branch base, then offered the Cross Guild’s services as a mercenary organization.
• Crocodile said Buggy’s decision was not bad, while Redfield, Katakuri, and Moria remained silent.

Sabo accused the Navy and Gern Reginald Sigma of leaving the Revolutionary Army to bear the Holy Land’s casualties, while Dragon defended their strategy. Gern arrived at the Revolutionary Army’s command meeting and fixed his gaze on Sabo.

• Sabo complained to Dragon that the Navy had failed to send its main forces and was using the Revolutionary Army as cannon fodder.
• Dragon argued that the Navy needed time to mobilize and that the Revolutionary Army was an indispensable vanguard, not a disposable pawn.
• Dragon suggested that Koby’s presence and principles might make the World Government underestimate him, though this was only Dragon’s speculation.
• Sabo insisted the front line needed immediate support and warned that the Holy Knights or Imu might counterattack.
• Gern Reginald Sigma silently entered the command hall and approached Dragon and the frozen Sabo.

Gern arrived at the Revolutionary Army command center with the Independent Navy’s strongest fighters, overwhelming Sabo and the assembled officers with their show of force. Sabo realized the Revolutionary Army might help open the way to overturn the world, but Gern and the Navy would decide what came next.

• Gern entered the conference hall, startling Sabo, who had not sensed him approaching.
• Sabo opened the doors to investigate and found Akainu, Kizaru, Bullet, Lipo Hope, Tesoro, Toritoma, Kuma, Enel, Mihawk, Perona, and other elite fighters surrounding the headquarters.
• Sabo recognized the assembled force as proof that Gern had brought overwhelming reinforcements rather than needing the Revolutionary Army as cannon fodder.
• Gern ignored Sabo and studied the military map with Dragon while the Revolutionary Army officers fell silent, awed and uneasy.
• Sabo accepted that the Revolutionary Army might break open the path, but Gern and the Navy would likely determine the world’s fate.

Akainu Sakazuki confronted Holy Knights Supreme Commander Saint Garling on the western front of Mary Geoise. After their opening clash, Akainu blasted through Garling’s defense and left him gravely wounded.

• The Revolutionary Army fell back to support the Navy by dealing with CP agents and the Celestial Dragons’ guards.
• Akainu killed a guard and faced Saint Garling at the ruined estate on Mary Geoise’s western front.
• Akainu and Garling charged and met in a direct clash, matching each other’s strength.
• Akainu launched Great Eruption, and Garling split the giant lava fist with a Haki-coated slash.
• Akainu propelled himself through the explosion and struck Garling’s face with Hell Hound, blasting away much of his left cheek and jaw.

Lipo fought Saint Sommers near Pangaea Castle, using her daggers and a decay-like healing power to counter his thorn vines. As she pressed her attack, Toritoma ambushed Maffey and knocked her laser off course, then faced the injured Holy Knight.

• Lipo dodged Saint Sommers's thorn serpents and cut them apart with her Carrot Daggers.
• Saint Sommers unleashed a larger wave of thorn vines, but Lipo's Negative Healing: Gangrene Separation caused them to rot and forced him to sever them.
• Lipo charged Saint Sommers in close combat while Maffey prepared to fire a laser at her.
• Toritoma appeared beneath Maffey and struck her jaw with an Armament Haki-coated kick, sending her laser into the sky.
• Maffey clutched her shattered jaw, then roared and lunged at Toritoma.

Gild Tesoro trapped Aramaki in a golden cylinder and battered his giant tree form with a storm of Haki-infused weapons. Perona then struck Aramaki with her Negative Hollow, leaving him helpless and consumed by despair.

• Aramaki attacked Tesoro with waves of vines, but Tesoro gathered Mary Geoise's gold and sealed him inside a massive cylinder.
• Aramaki tried to escape through the cylinder's open top, but Tesoro unleashed thousands of Haki-infused golden weapons against him.
• Aramaki transformed into a giant tree-man and endured the barrage, though his old wound throbbed and his strength began to fail.
• Perona's ghosts passed through Aramaki and drained his fighting spirit, making him collapse and berate himself.
• Perona floated behind the defeated Aramaki and mocked his strength, deepening his despair.

Hawk-Eye stopped Shamrock from killing Perona and answered the ambush with a single devastating sword strike. Shamrock lost his sword arm, while Perona, Tesoro, and Aramaki stared in shock.

• Shamrock rushed Perona with a surprise rapier attack, but Hawk-Eye blocked the strike with Yoru.
• Perona clung to Hawk-Eye and sobbed after narrowly escaping death, while he told her to cry behind him.
• Hawk-Eye faced Shamrock, gathered Conqueror's Haki around his sword arm, and challenged him to survive and claim the title of World's Greatest Swordsman.
• Hawk-Eye drew Yoru in a nearly imperceptible strike and severed Shamrock's right arm at the shoulder.
• Perona, Tesoro, and Aramaki watched in shock as Shamrock staggered and bled.

Gern, Enel, and Bullet reached Pangaea Castle, where Gunko tried to block their way. Gern ordered Kizaru and Bartholomew Kuma to remove her, clearing the road as the three Marines continued toward the castle and its final stage.

• Gern, Enel, and Bullet approached Pangaea Castle along the empty God's Imperial Road, where Gunko guarded the entrance alone.
• Gunko challenged the three and activated her Arrow-Arrow Fruit, but Gern ordered her to be moved aside.
• Kizaru appeared beside Gunko and attacked with a Light-Speed Kick, which she narrowly dodged.
• Bartholomew Kuma struck Gunko with his Paw-Paw Ability and sent her away.
• Gern, Enel, and Bullet resumed their stroll toward Pangaea Castle as the final stage began.

Gern, Enel, and Bullet broke into Pangaea Castle’s Power Hall, where the two surviving Five Elders faced them alongside the sleeping Holy Knight Saint Killingham. Killingham woke and confronted the intruders, hinting that he had dreamed of monsters.

• Saint Shepherd Ju Peter warned Saint Mars that Heavenquake had arrived as Gern, Enel, and Bullet approached the Power Hall.
• Gern, Enel, and Bullet blasted open the hall’s doors and entered.
• Saint Mars tried to persuade Gern to preserve the World Government’s eight-hundred-year order, but Gern mocked the two Elders.
• Bullet noticed Saint Killingham asleep on a sofa, and Killingham woke when his snot bubble burst.
• Killingham rose with his trident, apologized to the Elders for oversleeping, and told Gern, Enel, and Bullet that his dream had been lovely because it contained so many monsters.

Enel and Bullet exposed a chamber full of sleeping guards, Cipher Pol agents, and Celestial Dragons, revealing that Killingham’s power involved the sleepers. Killingham unleashed their dreams and fused them into a massive nightmare cloud, then slammed it into the ground to open a Nightmare Cavern.

• Enel provoked Killingham while secretly coordinating with Bullet, who hurled a marble fragment through the hall’s wall.
• The destroyed wall revealed hundreds of sleeping guards, Cipher Pol agents, and Celestial Dragons hidden inside.
• Ju Peter, Mars, and Killingham realized Enel and Bullet had uncovered Killingham’s sleeper-based trap, and Killingham decided to attack at full strength.
• Killingham transformed into his human-beast form and used his trident to pull the sleepers’ dreams into a gigantic nightmare cloud.
• Killingham smashed the nightmare cloud into the ground and called out, “Nightmare Cavern: Open!”

Killingham, Saint Shepherd Ju Peter, and Saint Mars launched a final counterattack against Bullet and Enel, who revealed their ultimate forms. As the battle began, Gern headed for the Empty Throne, where Imu reflected on the founding oath and Lily’s departure.

• Killingham created a nightmare domain that spawned monsters, while Saint Shepherd Ju Peter transformed into a sandworm and Saint Mars became Itsumade.
• Bullet unleashed and compressed his Armament Haki, transforming into a dark purple fiend.
• Enel compressed his lightning into his Takemikazuchi True Form and prepared to purify the nightmare domain.
• Gern ignored the battle and walked toward the Empty Throne.
• Imu sat on the Empty Throne and recalled the founders’ vow, accusing their descendants of craving power and noting that only Lily had seen the truth and left.

Gern entered the chamber of the Empty Throne and confronted Imu, who occupied Blackbeard’s body and declared that the final hero had arrived. Gern drew Eight Desolations and prepared to fight Imu in the final confrontation.

• Imu sat on the Empty Throne and reflected that Lily had left the founders, who had once believed themselves heroes.
• Imu declared that a real hero had arrived, and Gern entered the chamber.
• Gern recognized that Imu, not Blackbeard, occupied Blackbeard’s body and learned that Marshall D. Teach no longer existed.
• Imu acknowledged that Gern had reached the throne unimpeded, and Gern said he had overcome every obstacle in his life.
• Gern unwound the bandages from Eight Desolations, took his stance, and began the final confrontation with Imu.

Imu used the Dark-Dark and Tremor-Tremor Fruits together to suppress Gern and attack him with coordinated force. Gern countered with a series of strikes that sent Imu into a crater, but Imu emerged unharmed and began raising darkness to reveal its “net.”

• Imu used Dark Burst and spatial tremors to limit Gern’s movement and blast him through a wall of the hall.
• Gern recovered, attacked with Heavenquake: Sky-Splitting Scar, and watched Imu nullify the strike with darkness.
• Imu pulled Gern in with Black Vortex and struck him at point-blank range with a Tremor Break.
• Gern countered with a Conqueror’s Haki slash, Earth Vein Quake, and a Tremor Flash kick before slamming Imu into the ground with Black Quake: Falling Star Drop.
• Imu emerged from the crater seemingly unharmed, praised Gern’s combination, and began raising darkness to show him its net.

Imu trapped Gern in a tightening net of darkness, but Gern escaped by disintegrating the space around him. Imu immediately countered, suppressing Gern’s Devil Fruit powers and pinning him to the ground, leaving him caught in Imu’s net.

• Imu formed a regenerating cage of darkness around Gern with its Dark Lock: God-Binding Net.
• Gern used Airspace Disintegration to destroy the space around him and escape the cage, exhausting himself in the process.
• Imu pulled Gern into its dark domain and restrained him before he could retreat.
• Imu knocked the Eight Desolations into the darkness, seized Gern by the neck, and suppressed his Devil Fruit powers with Black Vortex.
• Imu slammed Gern into the floor and declared that Gern was caught in its net.

Gern Reginald Sigma escaped Imu’s grip by using Eight Desolations and his Conqueror’s Haki, then unleashed a barrage of spatial quakebursts against Imu. Imu was left engulfed in destruction, though Gern doubted the attack had killed him.

• Imu, inhabiting Blackbeard’s body, restrained Gern and offered him a place among the Five Elders.
• Gern summoned Eight Desolations, stabbing Imu’s forearm and breaking the hold on his neck.
• Gern unleashed his Conqueror’s Haki, freed himself from the tentacles, tore open Imu’s forearm, and drove the blade through Imu’s chest.
• Gern twisted Imu’s head backward, kicked him into the air, and ripped Eight Desolations free.
• Gern launched eight Eight Extremes Jade spheres at Imu, triggering overlapping spatial quakebursts that engulfed him.

Gern Reginald Sigma defeated Imu in a clash of Conqueror’s Haki and cut through Imu with Eight Desolations. As Imu’s wound blocked reincarnation, Imu destroyed the Empty Throne and left Gern a final warning, ending the chapter with the old era’s symbol crumbling.

• Imu regenerated from Gern’s attack, then tried to pull Gern into a miniature black hole, but Gern used its suction to launch his Godfall strike.
• Imu met Gern’s slash with Blackbeard’s Conqueror’s Haki, but Gern’s stronger will broke through and cut Imu from forehead to abdomen.
• Gern’s severing will trapped Imu in Blackbeard’s body and obstructed Imu’s attempt to reincarnate.
• Imu acknowledged Gern as a worthy challenger, walked to the Empty Throne, and leaned against it until it cracked and began to crumble.
• As Imu faded with the throne, Imu warned Gern not to make a deal with that Treasure Chest.

Gern watched Imu burn to ashes after defeating the ruler who had relied on immortality, authority, and schemes rather than overwhelming combat strength. Enel and Bullet joined him with news of the fallen God's Knights and Five Elders, and Gern declared the eight-hundred-year-old order finished as a new era began.

• Gern watched Spark burn Imu's remains and reflected that his victory had felt easier and less satisfying than his battles with Gol D. Roger and Edward Newgate.
• Saint Killingham's head rolled into the hall, and Enel arrived carrying Saint Marcus Mars's head on his Golden Staff.
• Enel told Gern that Killingham and Saint Mars had weakened after crying out about their lord and contract, making them easy to defeat.
• Bullet entered the hall after defeating Saint Shepherd Ju Peter and asked Gern if the fight was over.
• Gern looked at Imu's ashes and Eight Desolations, then told Enel and Bullet, "Yeah. It's over."

Gern led the Navy’s takeover of the world, dismantling the old regime and reshaping borders and governments, while the Straw Hat Pirates remained a mystery after their clash with him. The chapter ended with Gern preparing a joint maritime conference as the connected seas entered a scarred but hopeful new era.

• The Navy replaced the World Government flag at Mary Geoise, and Gern announced the execution of the Celestial Dragons and their core vassals while the Reverie abolished slavery and granted Fish-Men and Merfolk equal rights.
• Monkey D. Dragon disbanded the Revolutionary Army, while Sabo was arrested and Koby was executed after they challenged the Navy’s purge; Gern later presided over Shanks’s execution.
• Buggy disbanded the Buggy Pirates and turned Cross Guild into a Navy-supervised underworld organization, while Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates allied with Elbaf and declared war on the Navy.
• Douglas Bullet defeated the Straw Hat Grand Fleet, and Gern defeated Loki and brought Elbaf under Navy supervision; the Straw Hat Pirates escaped during the fighting.
• Gern fought Luffy in secret, after which the Straw Hat Pirates gathered the Road Poneglyphs and had their wanted notices rescinded; Gern then opened a strait through the Red Line, connecting the Four Blues and helping sea levels fall.
• In 1525, Gern signed a preparatory document for the First Joint Four Blues Maritime Safety Conference as Fish-Man Island planned its first surface town and the new order continued to face resistance.