Chapter Summaries

After Kuina recovered from her duel with Mihawk, Lin Yuan questioned Mihawk’s understanding of swordsmanship and demonstrated his strength by destroying an entire island with one strike. Mihawk watched in disbelief, while Lin Yuan revealed that the attack had required nearly all his strength.

• Lin Yuan checked Kuina’s injuries, and Mihawk praised her talent as a swordswoman.
• Kuina said she no longer cared about becoming the world’s greatest swordsman, and Lin Yuan promised to teach her more.
• Mihawk insisted on fighting Lin Yuan, who challenged him to consider why swordsmen wielded blades rather than swords.
• Lin Yuan carried Kuina and Mihawk above the island and unleashed nine enormous sword-energy dragons that shattered it completely.
• Mihawk was stunned by Lin Yuan’s power, and Lin Yuan admitted the strike had used nearly all his strength before asking whether it was passable.

Lin Yuan warned Tesoro against attacking Marine Headquarters before they understood the World Government’s hidden power, then invited Mihawk to join the Abyss Chamber of Commerce. Mihawk declined to become Lin Yuan’s sparring partner but agreed to keep the chamber’s secrets, leaving his decision about joining unresolved.

• Mihawk remained at Abyss headquarters, impressed by Lin Yuan’s slash and the powerful people gathered there.
• Lin Yuan told Tesoro that Imu secretly ruled the world, so they needed to revise their plan to attack Impel Down and Marine Headquarters.
• Mihawk refused Lin Yuan’s invitation to spar, saying he would not risk his life against moves as powerful as Lin Yuan’s.
• Lin Yuan offered Mihawk rare wine and opponents to fight if he joined the Abyss Chamber of Commerce.
• Mihawk asked what Lin Yuan would do if he refused, and Lin Yuan asked him to keep the chamber’s secrets.
• Mihawk promised not to reveal what he had seen.

Lin Yuan recruited Mihawk and planned a Marineford war and an assault on Impel Down with the Abyss merchant association. After Blackbeard killed a Whitebeard Pirates captain, Ace set out to hunt him, while Blackbeard prepared to use the encounter to advance his ambitions.

• Mihawk accepted Lin Yuan's invitation, and Lin Yuan explained that he planned to turn the Shichibukai against the World Government and form new emperor-level pirate crews.
• Lin Yuan, Mihawk, Tesoro, and the others planned an attack on Impel Down, and Lin Yuan brought Whitebeard Newgate into their discussion.
• Blackbeard killed a captain under the Whitebeard Pirates, prompting the crew to declare that they would capture their traitor.
• Ace departed to hunt Blackbeard with covert support from the merchant association.
• Blackbeard welcomed news that Ace was coming, intending to use him to carry out his plan and defeat Lin Yuan.

Ace and Luffy reunited in Alabasta, where Ace kept Garp’s death and the truth about his feelings toward Ace secret from the Straw Hat Pirates. The chapter left Luffy and his crew determined to challenge the Five Emperors despite Ace warning that they were not strong enough.

• The Supernovas grew bolder and talked of overthrowing the Five Emperors, while Kid and Killer set out to challenge Shanks and Luffy was persuaded to postpone challenging Kaido.
• Ace and Luffy met again in Alabasta, and Ace joined the Straw Hat Pirates for a meal after greeting Luffy’s crewmates.
• An ordinary-looking man warned Ace not to tell the Straw Hat Pirates anything about Garp, and Ace silently agreed.
• Luffy told Ace that Garp had died and vowed to avenge him by defeating Lin Yuan, while Ace comforted him and recalled Garp’s silence when asked whether he would save Ace from execution.
• Ace warned Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, Fisher, Higgins, and Molly that challenging a Five Emperor with their current strength would be like seeking death, but they backed Luffy’s ambition.

Ace reunited with Luffy in Alabasta and warned him against challenging the Five Emperors, especially Lin Yuan, but Luffy insisted he would become Pirate King. They agreed to fight in the desert, where Ace quickly began overpowering his younger brother.

• Ace told Luffy that his crew was too weak for the New World and warned him not to provoke Hidden Emperor Lin Yuan.
• Luffy insisted he would become Pirate King, and Ace challenged him to prove his strength in a duel.
• Ace left for the desert outside the royal capital, while a hotel employee named Ying 8 reported the meeting and duel to an unknown contact.
• Luffy and his companions arrived, and both brothers released Conqueror's Haki, though Ace's aura overwhelmed Luffy.
• Ace charged without using his Devil Fruit ability and struck Luffy in the stomach with an Armament Haki-coated punch.

Ace defeated Luffy and the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates in Alabasta while Lin Yuan and Whitebeard Newgate watched. The crew lay beaten, with Ace sparing only Molly.

• Ace easily dodged Luffy's Armament Haki Gatling and knocked him into the sand with a punch.
• Luffy activated a steam-powered transformation and continued fighting Ace, but Ace repeatedly overpowered him.
• Zoro, Sanji, Fisher, Higgins, Molly, and Usopp joined Luffy, but Ace sent most of them flying and shrugged off Molly and Usopp's attacks.
• Lin Yuan and Whitebeard Newgate arrived with Kagehachi and Brûlée to watch Ace fight the Straw Hat Pirates.
• Ace unleashed Fire Daruma and struck down the crew, sparing Molly while declaring their defeat and criticizing Zoro's swordsmanship compared with Kuina's.

Ace defeated the Straw Hat Pirates and warned them about the power of the Five Emperors and the Abyss Chamber of Commerce. Lin Yuan and Whitebeard Newgate discussed Luffy’s future potential before Lin Yuan went after Ace, leaving Luffy determined to surpass his brother.

• After Ace beat the Straw Hat Pirates, Zoro asked about the Five Emperors, Kuina, and Lin Yuan, and Ace warned that their current strength was far from enough.
• Ace said Kuina was as strong as he was and that he would not rank among the Abyss Chamber of Commerce’s top twenty without further growth, then left after telling Luffy to keep training.
• Whitebeard Newgate questioned whether the badly beaten Luffy could become Pirate King, but Lin Yuan said the Straw Hat Pirates could grow strong enough to challenge Kaido in two years.
• Lin Yuan and Whitebeard Newgate joked about Luffy seeking revenge and encountering Garp alive, then Whitebeard Newgate returned to his base while Lin Yuan went after Ace.
• Luffy struggled to his feet and vowed to surpass Ace the next time they met.

Ace intercepted Blackbeard on an uninhabited island and learned that Teach planned to use him to force Whitebeard into a battle with the Marines. Ace attacked, but Blackbeard’s Dark-Dark Fruit protected him, and the two continued fighting as Ace tried to avoid being caught by the spreading darkness.

• Ace tracked Blackbeard to an uninhabited island, where Teach admitted he had been waiting to capture him and hand him over to the Marines.
• Blackbeard revealed that he wanted Whitebeard Newgate’s Tremor-Tremor Fruit and planned to use Ace to provoke a final battle between Whitebeard and the Marines.
• Ace attacked Blackbeard with Fire Fist and Firefly: Fire Daruma, but Teach’s darkness shielded him from the explosions.
• Blackbeard spread darkness across the ground with Black Hole, forcing Ace to retreat and avoid being grabbed.
• Ace erupted in flames and defied Blackbeard as their fight continued.

Ace battled Blackbeard, whose Dark-Dark Fruit and Haki pushed him to unleash increasingly powerful flames. After Blackbeard swallowed and released Ace’s giant fireball, Ace revealed that he had drawn the others into a thousand-meter ring of flame and engulfed them in a fiery tornado.

• Blackbeard charged Ace with his darkness, but Ace dodged and blasted him with explosive flames before clashing with him using an Armament Haki-coated fist.
• Ace realized Blackbeard’s Haki was stronger than his own, then attacked with Fire Pistol and a massive fireball as Blackbeard’s crew joined the fight.
• Blackbeard swallowed Ace’s enormous fireball and released it over the sea, where it exploded and devastated the shore.
• Blackbeard ordered his crew to capture the exhausted Ace, and Jesus Burgess and the other pirates rushed toward him while Lafitte and Van Augur held back.
• Ace drew the flames around the battlefield together and unleashed Flame Ring, trapping Blackbeard and the attacking pirates in a towering tornado of fire.

Ace fought Blackbeard on an uninhabited island, but exhausted himself before he could defeat him. Blackbeard later revealed Ace’s lineage to Sengoku, who arranged to have Ace publicly executed at Marineford, setting the stage for a major event.

• Ace’s flame tornado killed Burgess and many of Blackbeard’s pirates, but Ace’s final demon-fire attack failed to overcome Blackbeard’s darkness.
• Ace used his last strength to attack Blackbeard, then passed out; Blackbeard ordered Lafitte and Van Augur to leave with him.
• After recovering, Blackbeard told Sengoku that Ace was Roger’s son and sought a Shichibukai position in return.
• Sengoku agreed to make Blackbeard a Shichibukai and announced that the Marines would execute Roger’s bloodline at Marineford in one month.

Lin Yuan planned a small elite force to rescue Ace from Marineford while the Marines secretly assembled 100,000 troops for the execution. As both sides prepared for war, Blackbeard waited near the Calm Belt, eager to begin his own plan.

• Whitebeard Newgate, Garp, Katakuri, and the others gathered with Lin Yuan to discuss rescuing Ace.
• Lin Yuan decided to send only a hundred people and assigned Mihawk, Hancock, and Bartholomew Kuma to help protect Ace.
• Lin Yuan revealed a plan centered on Yamato, Katakuri, Mihawk, and Whitebeard Newgate, while promising to join them later.
• Lin Yuan arranged for Tesoro to send Mihawk and the others to Marineford in secret, where they would reveal themselves after the Marines summoned the Shichibukai.
• Sengoku fortified Marineford and gathered 100,000 Marines, unaware of Lin Yuan's plans.
• Blackbeard waited near the Calm Belt with Lafitte and Van Augur, celebrating the war he hoped would bring him power.

As Ace’s public execution approached, Lin Yuan prepared his allies for the coming battle and traveled toward Impel Down. He learned that Blackbeard planned to attack the prison the next night and decided to be there.

• Lin Yuan told Whitebeard Newgate and the others to rest at the estate before using Brûlée’s ability to reach Marineford, then flew off alone.
• Lin Yuan met Garp and Big News Morgans at another estate, and Morgans agreed to arrange a secret broadcast of the coming battle.
• Garp promised not to intervene at Marineford, while Lin Yuan assured him that Ace’s rescue had been arranged and urged him to disguise himself.
• Lin Yuan flew toward Impel Down and learned from Monet that Blackbeard planned to attack it the next night.
• Lin Yuan told Monet he would be there and asked her to have Brûlée prepare, then considered how to reach Impel Down’s sixth level.

Lin Yuan infiltrated Impel Down using his Time Corridor ability and found Ivankov, Morley, and their allies on level 5.5. He sent them through Brûlée’s Mirror Space and then headed toward level 6 to find Bullet and Redfield.

• Lin Yuan entered Impel Down unseen with Time Corridor after Ace’s warship had departed.
• Lin Yuan reached level 5.5, revealed himself to Ivankov and Morley, and said he would help them escape for Dragon’s sake.
• Lin Yuan contacted Brûlée and arranged for Ivankov, Morley, Inazuma, Bon Clay, and the others to enter Mirror Space.
• Morley showed Lin Yuan a passage to level 6, and Lin Yuan sent the group through the mirror.
• Lin Yuan explored level 5.5, then headed toward level 6 to find Bullet and Redfield.

Lin Yuan used Observation Haki to survey Impel Down’s level six and secretly offered Redfield a place in his plans to overthrow the World Government. Redfield agreed to meet him after Lin Yuan promised to free him that night and provide the Mythical Zoan Vampire Fruit.

• Lin Yuan sensed the darkness surrounding the prisoners on level six and decided to focus on Bullet, Redfield, and their Devil Fruits.
• Lin Yuan contacted Redfield privately and offered to take him out of Impel Down and recruit him.
• Redfield questioned Lin Yuan’s strength and motives, then became interested when Lin Yuan revealed he had the Vampire Fruit.
• Lin Yuan said his goal was to overthrow the Celestial Dragons and the World Government, and Redfield agreed to see how he would escape.
• Lin Yuan promised to free Redfield that night and warned him not to betray him, leaving Redfield intrigued.

Lin Yuan approached Bullet and offered to free him in exchange for a fight, while news of Lin Yuan’s strength stirred Bullet and Redfield’s interest. After Blackbeard began his move above, Lin Yuan appeared on Level Six, silenced the prisoners with Conqueror’s Haki, and ordered the Devil Fruit Users to step forward.

• Lin Yuan offered to free Bullet and challenged him to follow Lin Yuan if he lost their fight, while allowing him a yearly rematch.
• Bullet asked the prisoners about Lin Yuan, and a raspy-voiced pirate described Lin Yuan’s reputation and reported that Garp had died at his hands.
• Redfield regretted losing the chance to take revenge on Garp, while Bullet’s fighting spirit flared at the news of Lin Yuan’s strength.
• Blackbeard set his plan in motion with Lafitte, Van Augur, and his recruited subordinates, and Lin Yuan went to Level Six and looped its surveillance equipment.
• Lin Yuan used Conqueror’s Haki to burst the head of a pirate who threatened him, then ordered the Devil Fruit Users to step forward.

Lin Yuan emptied Impel Down’s sixth level by taking its Devil Fruit Users into the Mirror Space and killing the remaining prisoners. He freed Bullet and Redfield and escaped with them, leaving Blackbeard to find the level deserted.

• Lin Yuan ordered the Devil Fruit Users, including Catarina Devon, into the Mirror Space.
• Lin Yuan killed the other prisoners and stored their bodies, then killed the frozen Byrnndi World and placed his corpse in a coffin.
• Lin Yuan cut apart Bullet and Redfield’s cells and shackles, then led them through the mirror to escape.
• The mirror vanished, leaving the sixth level empty and without any trace of blood.
• Blackbeard arrived with Lafitte and Van Augur, found no prisoners, and ordered them to search the other levels.

Lin Yuan killed the forty-odd prisoners in the Mirro-World and sealed their bodies with fruit to extract their Devil Fruits. He then fed Bullet and Redfield, promised Redfield the Bat-Bat Fruit, and invited them to watch Whitebeard Newgate fight Marine Headquarters.

• Lin Yuan asked the prisoners to reveal their Devil Fruit abilities, then killed them with a swift sword strike when they asked him to remove their restraints.
• Lin Yuan and Bullet and Redfield threw the corpses into a Seastone cube, where Lin Yuan placed fruits to extract the prisoners’ Devil Fruits.
• Lin Yuan told Bullet that he had defeated Garp but had not killed him, and postponed Bullet’s request to fight until he had recovered.
• Lin Yuan gave Bullet and Redfield food and wine, then showed Redfield a Mythical Zoan Bat-Bat Fruit, vampire form, and reaffirmed that he would discuss terms with him later.
• Lin Yuan invited Bullet and Redfield to watch Whitebeard Newgate fight Marine Headquarters, and both men reacted with excitement.

Lin Yuan recovered the More-More Fruit and dozens of other Devil Fruits from Byrnndi World's coffin, then watched the Marines prepare for Ace's execution at Marineford. As Sengoku revealed Ace's parentage, Whitebeard Newgate appeared in the plaza to save him.

• Lin Yuan opened Byrnndi World's coffin, took the More-More Fruit, and recovered thirty-nine more Devil Fruits from the stored bodies and fruit.
• Lin Yuan burned the remaining corpses and fruit, then left the Mirror World with Bullet and Redfield to watch the coming battle.
• Sengoku ordered the Marines to carry out their plan at Marineford, and the Marines took their positions the next morning with the Admirals, Vice Admirals, and Shichibukai.
• Sengoku ordered Ace brought to the execution platform and revealed that Ace was the son of the Pirate King, whose pursuit had caused his mother to die in childbirth.
• Cloaked figures appeared across the plaza as Whitebeard Newgate emerged to face the Marines and save Ace.

Whitebeard Newgate arrived at Marineford with a small masked force and attacked as the Marines tried to stop him. The battle spiraled into chaos when Whitebeard Newgate, Yamato, Katakuri, Hancock, Mihawk, and Sengoku unleashed their Conqueror's Haki, leaving nearly everyone else unconscious.

• Whitebeard Newgate appeared at Marineford with more than a hundred cloaked, masked figures and demanded that Sengoku release Ace.
• Sengoku ordered the Marines to fire, but Whitebeard Newgate used Air Quake to stop the projectiles and Seaquake to raise a massive tsunami.
• Kuzan froze the tsunami with Ice Age as the Marines moved to attack the masked fighters.
• Whitebeard Newgate signaled Yamato and Katakuri, who joined him in releasing Conqueror's Haki and knocked out most of the Marine forces.
• Hancock and Mihawk unleashed their Conqueror's Haki, and Sengoku responded with his own, plunging Marineford into chaos.

Lin Yuan’s Conqueror’s Haki tactic left most of Marineford’s Marines incapacitated, and Whitebeard Newgate’s forces began fighting the remaining officers. As the battle turned against the Marines, Sengoku ordered Ace’s immediate execution.

• Lin Yuan told Bullet and Redfield that Whitebeard Newgate and the entire Whitebeard Pirates belonged to him, then said the real fight was about to begin.
• Tsuru stopped Sengoku from unleashing his Conqueror’s Haki, and Sengoku ordered Sakazuki, Kuzan, Borsalino, the Shichibukai, and the surviving officers to attack.
• Enel intercepted Borsalino, Yamato confronted Kuzan, and Katakuri and the other cloaked fighters engaged the Marines.
• Tsuru told Sengoku that Lin Yuan had likely joined the battle and identified Enel as Borsalino’s opponent, while Sengoku admitted they were in trouble.
• Sengoku saw the Marine officers losing despite their numerical advantage and ordered Ace to be executed immediately.