Chapter Summaries

Lofan trained the Search Bureau’s first recruits and persuaded Sengoku to provide more personnel and ships for a secret operation against a powerful figure in the Marines. He planned to fund the bureau by catching wealthy targets, while preparing to build a fleet and expand SWROD.

• Lofan gave the Search Bureau recruits a speech demanding absolute loyalty and urging them to pursue justice.
• Zephyr began putting the recruits through brutal training, while Garp and Zephyr praised Lofan’s potential before leaving.
• Lofan pleaded with Sengoku for manpower, then explained that he intended to dismantle a powerful figure’s network of influence in Marine branches.
• Sengoku approved Lofan’s request for personnel and a few new high-speed warships, and Lofan proposed a grand exercise to select recruits.
• Lofan decided to raise money for the operation by catching wealthy targets rather than taking funds from Marine Headquarters or ordinary people.

Lofan raided Marine Branch 199 to arrest Rear Admiral Morris and expose the branch’s corruption. He stripped Morris and his accomplices of their ranks, disbanded the branch, and sent its personnel to Marine Headquarters or the Search Bureau for investigation.

• Binz continued drifting at sea to collect money for Lofan, frustrated by the risky and aimless assignment.
• Lofan surrounded Marine Branch 199 and arrested Rear Admiral Morris after announcing the charges against him.
• Lofan’s men brought in Morris’s associates, Skull Captain Taya and Commander Peifuri, whose capture shattered Morris’s defiance.
• Lofan declared Morris, Taya, and Peifuri accomplices in corruption and rebellion, relieved them of their duties, and ordered them sent to Search Bureau headquarters.
• Lofan disbanded Marine Branch 199 and ordered its personnel transferred to Marine Headquarters for investigation.

Lofan secretly investigated the corrupt 199th Marine Branch by tracing a smuggling operation on Katalier and recording pirates’ confessions. After Marines interrupted his rest and attacked him, he confronted their colonel, leaving their fight underway.

• Lofan entered the 199th Marine Branch’s jurisdiction in disguise and investigated smuggling on Katalier.
• An old fisherman told Lofan that Marines allowed pirate crews to smuggle extracts in exchange for a share of the profits.
• Lofan located the pirates, forced them to confess, and recorded their statements with a Den Den Mushi.
• A Marine colonel and his men broke into Lofan’s inn room and accused him of causing trouble.
• Lofan dodged the colonel’s katana and struck at him, but the colonel blocked the blow with his sword.

Lofan defeated Skeleton Taya using only physical strength, then exposed and dismantled Marine Branch 199 after investigating its corruption. He anticipated retaliation from powerful interests but remained determined to reshape the Marines.

• Lofan tested his physical strength against Taya, who boosted his abilities and attacked with a flaming, Haki-coated katana, but Lofan knocked him unconscious.
• Lofan handed Taya to the Search Bureau’s standby fleet for interrogation, then investigated several more islands and gathered evidence against Marine Branch 199.
• Lofan surrounded the branch, and the troops guarding the perimeter captured the fleeing Commander Peifuri, who joined Taya in testifying against Rear Admiral Morris.
• Lofan dealt with Morris and Marine Branch 199, confiscated the branch’s property, and sent its illicit funds to the Investigation Bureau under the authority Sengoku had granted him.
• Lofan anticipated that Morris’s backers and other powerful figures would retaliate, but he resolved to reshape the Marines’ power structure.

Lofan drafted a plan to modernize the Navy’s warships and build the research and production capacity on Punk Hazard. He then inspected the Search Bureau’s training program and thanked Ain for her administrative work.

• Lofan wrote a warship upgrade program focused on metal hulls, mechanical propulsion, ship design research, and new production facilities.
• Lofan sealed the program and sent it to the Development Agency, promising to support its research.
• Lofan visited the Search Bureau’s training grounds and saw soldiers drilling under instructors and Zephyr sparring with trainees.
• Lofan toured the classrooms and found Ain working hard on the Bureau’s administration.
• Lofan thanked Ain for her efforts, and she lowered her head in embarrassment.

Lofan set out for Fortune Island to recruit Issho into the Navy Criminal Search Bureau, while Robin managed the Bureau’s staffing needs and paperwork at Marineford. Sengoku approved Lofan’s request but questioned the department’s repeated demands for administrative personnel.

• Lofan learned that Issho was on Fortune Island and decided to personally invite him to join the Search Bureau.
• Robin continued handling personnel transfers and recruitment paperwork at Marineford while facing unwanted gifts and attention from suitors.
• Robin asked Sengoku to approve Lofan’s trip to recruit Issho, and Sengoku agreed after hearing that Issho was worth the effort.
• Sengoku questioned Robin about the Search Bureau’s third request for more administrative staff, and Robin explained that workers were checking vast, poorly organized records.

Lofan met Issho at the Woof Woof Royal Casino and urged the compassionate gambler to use his strength in the Marines. Issho questioned the Marines’ justice because the World Government sanctioned the Shichibukai, and Lofan began to address the system’s interests.

• Lofan approached Issho during a dice game, and Issho left the casino with him to talk privately.
• Heng Youcai learned that Lofan had entered the casino and sent Duobao and Duocai to welcome him and sound him out.
• At an empty tavern, Issho introduced himself to Lofan, who called him the Cloud Gull Admiral.
• Lofan asked Issho whether he wanted to help bring justice to the world, and Issho challenged him over the Marines’ acceptance of the Shichibukai system.
• Lofan said the Shichibukai system was tied to many interests, and Issho waited for him to explain his objections.

Lofan persuaded Issho to join his effort to reform the Navy from within and fight the corruption behind the Shichibukai system. They visited Issho’s old friend Ao San, who quickly guessed why Lofan had come.

• Lofan explained his plan to purge corruption and teach the Navy’s ranks the ideals of justice, then described marines who had profited by controlling pirates.
• Issho condemned the corrupt marines, bowed to Lofan, and agreed to help him reform the Navy for the sake of the people.
• Duobao and Duocai delivered the Fortune Kingdom’s offer to cover Lofan’s expenses, and he said he hoped to meet the king and learn about his power over financial fortune.
• Issho asked to visit an old friend before joining the Navy, and Lofan accompanied him to the Woof Woof Royal Casino.
• Ao San, the casino’s owner, recognized Lofan as the Cloud Gull Admiral and quickly worked out why he had arrived with Issho.

Lofan learned about Ao San’s endless wager with Heng Youcai and continued educating Issho about the Search Bureau aboard their warship. Robin then informed Lofan that the Five Elders had summoned him to Mary Geoise and suspended the Bureau until his review was complete.

• Ao San explained that he had wagered with Heng Youcai that he would never be caught cheating, risking his lifelong financial luck if he lost.
• Heng Youcai worried about the unexpected threat, while Lofan considered him a potential source of funding for the Search Bureau and other projects.
• Lofan and Issho left Ao San and boarded their warship, where Lofan instructed Issho in the Search Bureau’s principles and approach to preventing corruption.
• Issho heard the Navy’s recitations and training drills and reconsidered his former prejudice against the Navy.
• Robin told Lofan that the Five Elders had ordered him to appear in Mary Geoise and that the Search Bureau had to suspend operations pending his review.

Lofan prepared to counter the Five Elders’ investigation while the Celestial Dragons plotted to punish him and the Five Elders debated summoning him to a hearing. As Lofan approached Marineford, he removed his Justice Coat and prepared to face the World Government’s gatekeepers.

• Lofan warned Ain to keep their people calm, sent precautions through a News Coo, and asked Robin to prepare documents for the investigation.
• Robin recalled some of her people to prepare the documents, while the Marines blockading the Navy Criminal Search Bureau ignored their work.
• Saint Charlos and Saint Gemlova plotted with another Celestial Dragon to make Lofan their target and punish him for interfering with their income.
• The Five Elders discussed Lofan’s record, the complaint against him, Kaido’s vacancy, and whether to summon him to a hearing.
• Lofan’s warship neared Marineford, and he removed his Justice Coat before meeting the Five Elders’ gatekeepers.

Lofan faced the Five Elders in Mary Geoise after being summoned over accusations of corruption, collecting protection money, and building a private army. He admitted to every charge, then challenged the Elders to explain what he should do when powerful people overturn the rules.

• World Government personnel escorted Lofan from Marineford to Mary Geoise to answer accusations tied to the Branch 199 case.
• Lofan entered the Hall of Power, where the Five Elders heard charges that he had embezzled funds, collected protection payments, and planned a rebellion from Punk Hazard.
• Lofan admitted to all the accusations, including the claim that he intended to rebel against the World Government, and his blunt response stunned the Five Elders.
• A Five Elder urged Lofan to reconsider his words, and Lofan asked what he should do when someone overturned the rules of every institution and position.

Lofan defended his handling of the Search Bureau’s funds before the Five Elders, then used his hypnosis to let three furious Celestial Dragons believe they had attacked him. The dispute was set aside, but Lofan left Mary Geoise humiliated and resolved to confront Imu the next time he went to the Red Line.

• Lofan presented records showing the Search Bureau’s funds had been allocated legally and explained that the merchant associations’ fees were meant to draw out corrupt Navy personnel.
• Lofan baited the Celestial Dragons by blaming himself for letting their supposed enemies escape, prompting Saint Charlos, Saint Gemrova, and another Celestial Dragon to confront him.
• Lofan activated Illusion, causing the three Celestial Dragons to fire at an empty area and leave satisfied while the Five Elders let the farce end.
• Lofan explained the Search Bureau’s benefits to the Five Elders, and the case was treated as an incident instead.
• Lofan left Mary Geoise, was escorted back to Marineford, and resolved to confront Imu on his next visit to the Red Line.

Lofan returned to the Search Bureau and joked with Robin, but a conversation about needing her strength plunged him into a crisis over how much of Aizen had become part of him. He recovered after seeing his other self in the world of the soul and asked Robin to call him back if he ever lost himself again.

• Sengoku brought Lofan back to the Fleet Admiral's Office, and Lofan reassured him that the Search Bureau incident had strengthened his commitment to justice.
• Lofan returned to the Search Bureau, where Robin teased him about taking responsibility for her and the staff left the building to give them privacy.
• Lofan told Robin he needed her strength and asked whether she was willing to give her body, prompting her to accuse him of sexual harassment.
• Lofan realized that Aizen's outlook had blurred the distinction between his own identity and Aizen's, then sank into a deep crisis of self-doubt.
• Robin called Lofan back to awareness, and he saw his indifferent other self before returning to the living world.
• Lofan explained that his soul was beginning to clash with an Aizen-like self and asked Robin to call out to him if he ever failed to return.

After the pirate purge, Big Mom pushed her exhausted forces to pursue the next stage of her ambitions and ordered Katakuri to demand Zou's Road Poneglyph from Lofan in exchange for Homies. Lofan returned to Punk Hazard to advance Caesar's Hollowfication research, confirming that strengthening the soul could strengthen Conqueror's Haki.

• Big Mom's forces benefited from the pirate purge, but Katakuri told her their territories were secure and asked for time to regroup.
• Big Mom crushed Katakuri with her pressure and ordered him to contact Lofan for Zou's Road Poneglyph, offering Homies in return.
• Katakuri left the room troubled, unsure of Lofan's intentions and aware that Big Mom's greed was growing.
• Lofan returned to Punk Hazard and asked Monet to bring Caesar to him so he could discuss his research.
• Caesar explained his theories on Hollowfication and soul enhancement, and Lofan told him to proceed on the assumption that stronger souls increased Conqueror's Haki because he had confirmed it himself.

Lofan reviewed Caesar’s research, considered the limits of Punk Hazard’s shipbuilding work, and decided to target Big Mom for the valuable Poneglyphs and other resources she held. When Ain confronted him about rumors spreading at headquarters, she ended their exchange by declaring she would handle all his branch liaison matters.

• Caesar told Lofan that his lineage factor contained nothing useful for creating an artificial soul-type Devil Fruit, while research on the three fruits Doflamingo had sent continued.
• Lofan left the laboratory exhausted and considered finding a skilled shipwright in Water 7 to help with Punk Hazard’s ship research.
• Lofan weighed the known locations of the Road Poneglyphs and decided to move against Big Mom to obtain the things she possessed.
• Ain confronted Lofan about rumors that he had used and abandoned someone, and he tried to change the subject by suggesting they speak with Instructor Zephyr.
• Ain offered to take charge of all Lofan’s branch liaison matters, leaving him surprised.

Lofan was summoned to the Development Agency, where Dr. Smith had decided to fire Anlek after repeated episodes disrupted the researchers’ work. Anlek begged for another chance, but Dr. Smith dismissed him, leaving him alone in the dark cafeteria.

• Lofan watched the Search Bureau train, then received a call asking him to visit the Development Agency.
• Lofan arrived and found Anlek tied up while Dr. Smith confronted him about repeatedly making a mess of shared spaces.
• Dr. Smith explained that Anlek’s behavior had disrupted the team’s work and announced that he would be dismissed.
• Anlek begged Dr. Smith to let him keep his job because his elderly parents depended on his wages.
• Dr. Smith fired Anlek, and the researchers left him kneeling alone in the dark cafeteria.

Lofan handled Anlieke’s dismissal at the Punk Hazard Development Agency and offered him another chance by taking him to work for Caesar. Just as Lofan finally tried to rest, Charlotte Pudding arrived with a question from Big Mom about the stone on Zou.

• Dr. Smith asked Lofan to request a new Research Director and discussed improving warship propulsion with him.
• Lofan untied Anlieke, who begged him to reverse his dismissal, but learned that the agency had already removed Anlieke’s records.
• Lofan offered Anlieke another choice and took him to Caesar, who needed staff.
• Lofan returned to the lounge, but Charlotte Pudding emerged from a mirror and was overwhelmed by his Reiatsu.
• Pudding asked whether there was news about the stone on Zou, speaking cautiously on Big Mom’s behalf.

Lofan and Issho traveled to Wano Country to seek Kozuki Sukiyaki and information about the Poneglyphs while quietly preparing to disrupt Big Mom's plans. After seeing how Big Mom had transformed the Flower Capital, Lofan was about to leave when a glamorous woman arrived on a huge palanquin.

• Lofan arranged for Issho to join him, then set off from Punk Hazard and revealed that they were heading to Wano Country to find Poneglyphs and trouble Big Mom.
• Lofan and Issho flew over Wano Country's cliffs and reached the Flower Capital, where they saw that Big Mom had remade the city into a pudding-themed nation.
• Lofan saw Big Mom's black soul avatars collecting residents' lifespans in exchange for protection, while Issho lamented their situation.
• Lofan asked a passerby where Kuri was and learned that it lay to the west, a day's walk away.
• Lofan prepared to leave the Flower Capital with Issho, but music and orderly footsteps drew his attention to a glamorous woman riding an enormous palanquin.

Lofan found the former shogun Kozuki Sukiyaki in Kuri and forced him to cooperate by promising to reunite him with his grandchildren, restore Wano Country, and destroy Orochi. Sukiyaki led Lofan to a secret chamber in Shogun City, agreeing to share Zou’s Vivre Card and Wano Country’s Poneglyph knowledge in exchange for Lofan’s help.

• Lofan spotted Kozuki Hiyori during her parade, then traveled with Issho to Kuri to search for Kozuki Sukiyaki.
• Lofan identified Sukiyaki as Tenguyama Hitetsu and subdued him with overwhelming pressure when Sukiyaki tried to resist.
• Lofan offered to fulfill Sukiyaki’s wishes in exchange for Zou’s Vivre Card and Wano Country’s information about the Poneglyphs, and Sukiyaki agreed.
• Sukiyaki led Lofan to Shogun City, where he encountered Kurozumi Orochi and renewed his desire for revenge.
• Sukiyaki promised to reveal Wano Country’s secrets and explain how to decipher the Poneglyphs if Lofan kept his promise.

Lofan questioned Sukiyaki about Pluton and concluded he knew where the Ancient Weapon was hidden, then sent Issho to make a rubbing of Zou’s Poneglyph and dispose of the stone. While Lofan searched Wano for Pluton, Issho reached Zou and began searching for the Poneglyph without disturbing the Mink Tribe.

• Lofan questioned Sukiyaki about Pluton’s location, and Sukiyaki said it was hidden somewhere unexpected in Wano Country.
• Lofan told Sukiyaki he had figured out where Pluton was and promised that changes would come within a day or two, then left with Issho.
• Lofan gave Issho Zou’s Vivre Card and ordered him to copy Zou’s Poneglyph and throw the stone into the sea so no one could find Laugh Tale.
• Issho agreed that the World Government would be responsible for the world’s evils if removing the pirates’ ultimate goal did not end them, then departed for Zou.
• Lofan searched for a complete map in the Flower Capital and decided to investigate Wano’s volcano after ruling out Onigashima.
• After seven days, Issho found Zou, reached the elephant’s back, and used Observation Haki to search for the Poneglyph while avoiding the Mink Tribe.