Recaps

Admiral Purple Foal attacked Hachinosu with purple flames that consumed the life force of anyone living they touched. Zesi confronted him and sent him flying with shock waves, while Bullet demanded justice for the crew members and soldiers killed in the attack.

• Purple Foal launched a purple phoenix of life-burning flames at the Azure Emperor Palace from above Hachinosu.
• The palace guards and several Azure Emperor Pirates tried to stop the phoenix, but its flames turned them into mummies.
• Bullet struck the phoenix apart, but its scattered flames continued to burn living creatures while leaving inanimate objects untouched.
• Purple Foal descended and faced Bullet, and Zesi arrived, ordered the others to withdraw, and identified the attacker as Admiral Purple Foal.
• Zesi drove Purple Foal back with waves of tremors and said he would not let the fallen comrades die in vain, while Bullet insisted their deaths be avenged.

Zesi battled Marine Admiral Purple Foal, whose Purple Phoenix Fruit let him heal and escape through fire, but Zesi caught him and killed him with Twenty-Eight Divine Space Strikes. News then spread that Purple Foal had died in the Azure Emperor Territory after provoking Zesi.

• Purple Foal waited for Zesi to appear, and Zesi confirmed that the Admiral had come alone.
• Zesi opened with Azure Dragon's Roar: Sword Draw, and Purple Foal countered with Killing One Sword before the relentless vibrations overwhelmed him.
• Purple Foal used Phoenix nirvana, purple phoenix rebirth to heal his wounds and revealed his Mythical Zoan Purple Phoenix Fruit.
• Purple Foal tried to flee as a purple phoenix, but Zesi awakened his Devil Fruit and caught up to him.
• Zesi struck Purple Foal with Twenty-Eight Divine Space Strikes and blasted him into the sea, where he died.
• News spread that Purple Foal had died in the Azure Emperor Territory after provoking Zesi.

After Admiral Purple Foal attacked the Azure Emperor Palace alone, Zesi killed him in Azure Emperor Territory, dealing a major blow to the Marines. Sengoku warned his officers that the Azure Emperor would retaliate, leaving the Marines facing an Emperor of the Sea’s wrath.

• News spread worldwide that Zesi had killed the newly appointed Admiral Purple Foal in Azure Emperor Territory.
• Sengoku learned that Purple Foal had entered the New World without permission and lamented the damage to the Marines’ plans and prestige.
• Demon Sheep and Thunder Python explained that they had expected Purple Foal to survive after probing the Azure Emperor’s strength.
• Sengoku warned them not to provoke Zesi and said the Marines had planned to confront him only after dealing with the other Emperors and waiting for him to weaken.
• Sengoku ordered the Marines to prepare for the Azure Emperor’s wrath.

After Purple Foal’s death at Zesi’s hands, Sengoku worried about the Marines’ plans and the Azure Emperor Pirates’ possible retaliation. The World Government sent envoys to Zesi’s territory to secure a trade deal, and Zesi left Spencer to negotiate.

• Big Mom, Kaido, and Whitebeard learned that Zesi had killed Admiral Purple Foal, and Kaido and Whitebeard dismissed the Marines’ judgment.
• Sengoku weighed whether to revise the Marines’ plan to eliminate the Emperors and how to protect against retaliation from Zesi.
• Sengoku met with the Five Elders, after which a World Government ship departed Mary Geoise for the Azure Emperor Territory.
• Zesi learned that World Government representatives had arrived, and Spencer suggested they had come to buy insurance against retaliation.
• Spencer revealed that the World Government had placed a hundred-billion order, including Wano Country weapons and goods from the Azure Emperor Territory.
• Zesi declined to meet the envoys and told Spencer to negotiate more purchases and ongoing trade to support Hachinosu.

World Government orders and trade agreements fueled Hachinosu’s growth, while Zesi expanded passenger and freight services across the New World. After hearing that Moria had agreed to serve him, Zesi considered starting his Azure Emperor Palace Shichibukai plan.

• The Big Mom Pirates learned that the World Government had placed large orders with Hachinosu, and Perospero explained how the trade benefited both sides.
• Merchants and farmers in the Azure Emperor Territory profited as the World Government’s orders and later trade agreements brought business to Hachinosu.
• Zesi established passenger routes through Whitebeard’s territory and launched freight services within the Azure Emperor Territory.
• Kozuki Oden told Zesi that Moria had given in after two years working as a miner and agreed to become his subordinate.
• Zesi decided he might put his Azure Emperor Palace Shichibukai plan into motion.

Zesi explained that his Shichibukai would guard the Grand Line’s seven routes so his passenger and freight services could expand beyond the New World. Moria accepted the position as the first Shichibukai, and Zesi tasked him with securing a route within three months.

• Zesi remarked that Moria had become more mature, but Moria insisted he had come to accept the Shichibukai plan.
• Zesi explained that his Shichibukai would serve as his subordinates and guard the Grand Line’s routes for his passenger and freight services.
• Moria was shocked when Zesi revealed that passenger services earned 4.9 billion Beli in monthly profit, while the routes brought Hachinosu over ten billion Beli in monthly economic benefits.
• Zesi offered Moria any one of the seven routes, a thousand Death Army soldiers, and thirty percent of its profits if he ensured its safety within three months.
• Moria asked Zesi to return his ship and crew, and Zesi agreed.

After Moria left to begin his Shichibukai career, Zesi considered recruiting new Shichibukai and identified Crocodile as a candidate. Crocodile attacked the Azure Emperor Palace, where Kirikage Saizo defeated him with Wano Country's Haki, Ryuo.

• Moria left with his pirate ship, crew, three pirate ships, and one thousand Death Army soldiers to begin his Shichibukai career.
• Zesi considered recruiting Kuma, Boa Hancock, Crocodile, and Doflamingo as Shichibukai, then sought two more candidates.
• Crocodile sailed to Hachinosu to challenge the Azure Emperor and attacked the Azure Emperor Palace, scattering its Death Army guards with his sand powers.
• Kirikage Saizo confronted Crocodile while the Death Army fought Crocodile's crew.
• Kirikage Saizo evaded Crocodile's sand blades and cut him down with Ryuo, leaving Crocodile unconscious.

Zesi planned to recruit Crocodile as one of the Azure Emperor Palace Shichibukai to help guard the first half of the Grand Line’s trade routes. At Marine Headquarters, Sengoku and the Marines debated the plan’s implications, while Tsuru warned them that Red-Haired Shanks was becoming a growing threat.

• Zesi learned that Kirikage had defeated Crocodile and ordered him brought in alive and treated, explaining that Crocodile’s Logia powers and business skills made him useful for the Shichibukai plan.
• Zesi described appointing seven pirates to guard routes in the first half of the Grand Line and support Azure Emperor passenger and freight transport.
• Sengoku suspected the Shichibukai plan was a bid to extend the Azure Emperor Pirates’ influence, and the Marines debated whether to confront Moria or use his pirates to help suppress others.
• Tsuru warned the Marines that Red-Haired Shanks, the Azure Emperor Pirates’ first division commander, had become a serious concern after more than a year of rapid growth.

Shanks confronted Dracule Mihawk on Sabaody Archipelago after Mihawk challenged him to test the strength of the Azure Emperor Pirates’ first division commander. Their duel escalated as Shanks released a powerful aura, and the chapter ended before the fight’s outcome was decided.

• Shanks and his crew moved on after his Conqueror’s Haki knocked out a crowd of bounty hunters.
• Mihawk blocked Shanks’s path and challenged him to a sword fight, while a disguised Marine reported the encounter through a Den Den Mushi.
• Shanks drew his saber and deflected Mihawk’s powerful flying slash before the two clashed blades.
• Shanks asked Mihawk to join his crew, and Mihawk insisted Shanks defeat him first.
• Shanks released a terrifying aura that cracked the ground and knocked out hunters nearby.

Shanks fought Mihawk at the Sabaody Archipelago, drawing Mihawk’s curiosity about the Azure Emperor, while Sengoku sent Borsalino to observe the duel. Resentful of the Marines’ treatment of the Azure Emperor and eager to restore their standing, Thunder Python ignored Demon Sheep’s warning and went to confront Shanks.

• Shanks’s Conqueror’s Haki pushed Mihawk back and made him wonder what kind of person the Azure Emperor was.
• Shanks invited Mihawk to join the Azure Emperor Pirates, and Mihawk answered by attacking him again.
• Sengoku ordered Borsalino to watch Shanks and Mihawk’s fight, protect the Celestial Dragons, and assess Shanks’s strength.
• Demon Sheep and Thunder Python discussed confronting Shanks, amid resentment between the new Marine recruits and career officers.
• Thunder Python ignored Demon Sheep’s attempts to stop him and led his men from Mary Geoise to the Sabaody Archipelago.

Borsalino watched Shanks and Dracule Mihawk fight on Sabaody, then realized Marine Admiral Thunder Python had arrived and blocked attempts to contact Sengoku. Thunder Python attacked the two swordsmen under the pretext of protecting the Celestial Dragons, and their battle began.

• Borsalino arrived at Sabaody and watched Shanks and Dracule Mihawk clash, recognizing their strength as that of great pirates.
• A heavy aura announced Thunder Python's arrival, and Borsalino failed to reach Sengoku because Thunder Python controlled radio waves.
• Benn Beckman warned Shanks as Shanks and Mihawk stopped fighting and identified the newcomer as Marine Admiral Thunder Python, wielder of the Electricity Fruit.
• Thunder Python accused Shanks and Mihawk of disturbing the Celestial Dragons and charged at them.
• Shanks and Mihawk struck Thunder Python with simultaneous slashes, but he knocked them aside and continued his assault.
• Shanks and Mihawk charged Thunder Python together, beginning a fierce battle.

Thunder Python gained the upper hand against Shanks and Dracule Mihawk while Borsalino kept Shanks’s crew from intervening. The Azure Emperor arrived and challenged the Marines over their fight with the Azure Emperor Pirates.

• Borsalino stopped Benn Beckman and the First Division from joining Shanks’s battle, warning that they would risk their lives against Thunder Python.
• Thunder Python forced Shanks and Dracule Mihawk onto the defensive, then used Furious Thunder, Swift Lightning to knock them back and pursue them.
• A white ball of light struck Thunder Python and drove him back before he could attack Shanks and Dracule Mihawk.
• The Azure Emperor arrived, asked why the Marines were holding up Shanks, and questioned whether they intended to go to war with the Azure Emperor Pirates.

Zesi arrived at Sabaody after learning Shanks had run into trouble and confronted Thunder Python, a powerful Marine Admiral. After Thunder Python attacked, Zesi struck back with his Vibration Fruit power, leaving their fight underway.

• Zesi had persuaded Crocodile to join the Azure Emperor Palace Shichibukai by revealing that he knew Crocodile's secret.
• Zesi went to Sabaody to see Rayleigh and Shanks, then headed to the commotion after Shanks failed to appear.
• Zesi revealed himself to Thunder Python and challenged his confidence that the Marines could surround and kill him.
• Thunder Python used Furious Thunder, Swift Lightning: Second Stage and struck Zesi with a lightning-wreathed punch.
• Zesi blocked Thunder Python's attack, focused his Conqueror's Haki through his eyes, and punched with the Vibration Fruit's power.

Zesi condensed his Conqueror's Haki through his gaze and used it to stagger Thunder Python before striking him with a Tremor-Tremor Fruit attack. Thunder Python survived without visible injury, and Zesi charged in again with Quake Annihilation Hammer.

• Zesi used his gaze to condense Conqueror's Haki, briefly dazing Thunder Python and letting him land a powerful punch.
• Lucky Roux and the others learned from Yamaarashi that Zesi's punch was an ordinary attack and that his Divine Space Strike was far stronger.
• Borsalino turned into light and fled to report Zesi's arrival, despite Thunder Python having stopped blocking the Den Den Mushi radio waves.
• Thunder Python survived Zesi's punch unharmed, while Shanks and Mihawk explained that his lightning flames protected and empowered him.
• Zesi, excited to find someone who could withstand his attacks, flashed in front of Thunder Python and began unleashing Quake Annihilation Hammer.

After Zesi defeated and captured Admiral Thunder Python, Sengoku arrived at Dragon Hall to negotiate his release. Zesi agreed to hand Thunder Python over in exchange for slaves from Amazon Lily, and Sengoku accepted.

• Borsalino reported Thunder Python’s fight with Zesi to Sengoku, who ordered Garp and Demon Sheep to hurry to Sabaody Archipelago.
• Sengoku and the others reached Sabaody after the battle and followed a Dragon Hall disciple to the Adam Smith Hotel.
• Sengoku found Thunder Python bloodied, shackled, and hanging from a pillar while Zesi drank with Rayleigh, Gaban, and Shanks.
• Demon Sheep challenged Zesi, but Zesi’s gaze overwhelmed him with terror and left him drenched in cold sweat.
• Sengoku asked to take Thunder Python away, and Zesi demanded slaves from Amazon Lily in exchange.
• Sengoku agreed to the exchange, judging the slaves a lesser cost than losing Thunder Python.

After defeating Thunder Python, Zesi agreed to exchange envoys with the World Government to improve communication with the Azure Emperor Territory. Back at Marine Headquarters, Thunder Python described how Zesi had overwhelmed him with a barrage of attacks, leaving the Marines shaken by the Azure Emperor's strength.

• Zesi warned Sengoku not to keep him waiting and threatened to approach the Celestial Dragons, then agreed to exchange envoys with the World Government.
• At Marine Headquarters, Sengoku questioned Thunder Python about how Zesi had defeated him.
• Thunder Python recalled that Zesi struck him with more than a hundred Quake Annihilation Hammers in rapid succession, distorting the surrounding space and making him spit blood.
• Zesi followed the barrage by testing a variety of other abilities on Thunder Python until he was beaten unconscious.

Zesi brought the rescued Boa Sisters and other Amazon Lily slaves under his protection, intending to train Hancock as one of the Azure Emperor Palace Shichibukai. Rayleigh doubted Hancock’s potential until she resisted Zesi’s Conqueror’s Haki, revealing that she had the makings of a ruler.

• Sengoku had the Marines gather Amazon Lily’s enslaved warriors and deliver them to Zesi, who kept the Hancock Sisters and sent the others to Bullet with Shanks.
• Rayleigh recognized the Boa Sisters and explained that Gloriosa had asked him to find them.
• Zesi told Rayleigh he wanted Hancock to become a Shichibukai under the Azure Emperor Palace and explained the plan to expand Azure Emperor Shipping into the first half of the Grand Line.
• Rayleigh doubted that the young, timid Hancock could serve as a deterrent, so Zesi released his Conqueror’s Haki against her.
• Hancock resisted Zesi’s Haki with her own, surprising Rayleigh and convincing him she had the qualifications.

Zesi began training Hancock, Sandersonia, and Marigold to qualify for the Azure Emperor Palace Shichibukai, giving them the Azure Emperor’s Will. After Thunder Python’s defeat hurt Marine prestige, Sengoku launched the Marines’ plan to retake the New World, and the Marines reclaimed G-1 Fortress by defeating the Ochoku Pirates.

• Zesi told Hancock and her sisters they needed to prove their strength before becoming Shichibukai and offered them the dangerous Azure Emperor’s Will.
• Hancock, Sandersonia, and Marigold accepted the Azure Emperor’s Will, which Zesi infused into their bodies.
• News spread that Zesi had defeated Marine Admiral Thunder Python at Sabaody, damaging Marine prestige and encouraging pirates to attack Marine bases.
• The Marines sent Thunder Python and Demon Sheep to capture pirates, restoring confidence in their strength.
• Sengoku ordered the plan to retake the New World, and the Marines attacked G-1 Fortress, defeating the Ochoku Pirates and killing Ochoku.

Big Mom allied with Kaido and the Beasts Pirates to confront the Marines as they advanced into the New World. Meanwhile, Zesi took Hancock and her sisters to the North Blue, training them on the journey before ordering them to find the Donquixote Family.

• Big Mom, Perospero, and Katakuri discussed the Marines’ strength and agreed that the Big Mom Pirates should join forces with Kaido against them.
• Big Mom ordered her crew to notify Kaido, and the Big Mom and Beasts Pirates went to war against the Marines.
• Zesi sailed toward the North Blue with Hancock and her sisters, propelling their sturdy flying fish boat with vibrations and crossing the first half of the Grand Line in ten days.
• Zesi trained Hancock and her sisters to stay on their feet aboard the speeding, pitching boat, and they gradually learned to keep their balance.
• After reaching the North Blue through Reverse Mountain, Zesi stopped powering the boat and told Hancock and her sisters to find the Donquixote Family.

Trafalgar Law joined the Donquixote Family, where Corazon repeatedly tormented him, while Doflamingo discussed the Marines’ war against the Four Emperors and planned to exploit their distraction. The Hancock Sisters and Zesi arrived at Spider Miles to find Doflamingo, with Zesi leaving the search and any danger to the sisters.

• Ten-year-old Trafalgar Law arrived at the Donquixote Family’s headquarters and demanded to join so he could kill people before he died.
• Doflamingo took an interest in Law’s anger and desire for revenge, but Corazon repeatedly tormented the boy to drive him away.
• Doflamingo and Diamante discussed the Marines’ clashes with the Big Mom Pirates and Beasts Pirates, and Doflamingo said the Marines’ deployment left the Donquixote Family free to act.
• Zesi sent the Hancock Sisters to find Doflamingo and told them he would no longer intervene.
• After a month of fighting pirates and following leads across the North Blue, the Hancock Sisters reached Spider Miles while Zesi remained asleep on their boat.

The Hancock Sisters found Diamante at the harbor and demanded to meet Doflamingo. Meanwhile, Zesi confronted Doflamingo at the Donquixote Family headquarters and asked him to join the Shichibukai under the Azure Emperor Palace, leaving Doflamingo’s answer unresolved.

• Hancock, Sandersonia, and their sister met Diamante at the harbor, and Sandersonia identified him from a wanted poster.
• Hancock told Diamante that revealing who sent them would scare him, then insisted on meeting Doflamingo.
• At the Donquixote Family headquarters, Doflamingo stopped his men from attacking the unexpected visitor and identified him as Zesi, the Azure Emperor.
• Doflamingo’s family members, including Corazon, reacted with fear and disbelief at the Azure Emperor’s presence.
• Zesi dismissed the idea that the Marines would attack his territory while he was alive and said he had come to invite Doflamingo to join the Shichibukai under the Azure Emperor Palace.
• Doflamingo asked Zesi what would happen if he refused.

Zesi demonstrated a terrifying application of Conqueror’s Haki, leaving Doflamingo and the Donquixote Family shaken as he challenged Doflamingo’s refusal. Meanwhile, Hancock and her sisters confronted Diamante, who recognized their Amazon Lily techniques and drew his sword.

• Zesi asked Doflamingo whether he understood what it meant to be an Emperor of the Sea and warned that refusing him would challenge his authority.
• Zesi’s crimson gaze briefly froze the Donquixote Family’s souls, and Doflamingo realized the Azure Emperor had used Conqueror’s Haki in a way he had never encountered.
• Hancock ordered Sandersonia and Marigold to attack Diamante, and their explosive arrows blasted a hole where he had stood.
• Diamante recognized the sisters’ Armament Haki as an Amazon Lily technique, but refused to yield and drew his sword.

Hancock fought Diamante and pursued him after he fled toward the Donquixote Family's headquarters. There, Doflamingo accepted Zesi's offer to join the Azure Emperor Palace as a Shichibukai, but an alarm about an intruder interrupted their discussion.

• Diamante attacked Hancock, Sandersonia, and Marigold with his Flag-Flag Fruit, but Hancock countered with her own Devil Fruit powers.
• Hancock's Slave Arrows turned Diamante's cape to stone, so he discarded it and fled toward the Donquixote Family's location.
• Hancock pursued Diamante with Sandersonia and Marigold, expecting him to lead them to Doflamingo.
• Doflamingo accepted Zesi's offer to join the Azure Emperor Palace as a Shichibukai after realizing he could not resist.
• Zesi explained the roles of the Shichibukai, the main crew, and the Death Army, then challenged Doflamingo about his knowledge of the One Piece.
• Someone outside warned Doflamingo that a troublesome intruder had arrived.

Diamante fled to the Donquixote Family headquarters with Hancock and her sisters in pursuit, where Doflamingo met the three young warriors. After Hancock and Doflamingo clashed with Conqueror’s Haki, they recognized that the Azure Emperor had sent them to meet.

• Diamante raced toward the waste processing plant while Hancock, Sandersonia, and Marigold attacked him with arrows.
• Law rushed to help Diamante, but Hancock’s Slave Arrows petrified most of his body and left him unable to move.
• Diamante reached the Donquixote Family headquarters and warned Doflamingo that they were under attack.
• Zesi told Doflamingo that Hancock was from Amazon Lily and would become a Shichibukai under the Azure Emperor Palace.
• Doflamingo’s Conqueror’s Haki provoked Hancock’s, and their clash knocked Buffalo and several others unconscious.
• Hancock asked Doflamingo if he was the man they had been sent to find, and he confirmed that the Azure Emperor was inside.

Zesi welcomed Doflamingo and the Donquixote Family as Shichibukai under the Azure Emperor Palace and gave them a role in the Azure Emperor Pirates’ plans. He tasked Doflamingo with finding the Vinsmoke Family, whose head, Vinsmoke Judge, he wanted as a scientist, and warned that Judge would have no place in the world if he refused foolishly.

• Zesi praised Hancock and the Hancock Sisters for their mission, while Trebol explained to Diamante that the Donquixote Family would become the third Shichibukai crew under the Azure Emperor Palace.
• Doflamingo asked Hancock to undo the petrification of a young friend, and Zesi told her to help him.
• Zesi told Doflamingo to prepare to enter the Grand Line and become a deterrent before the Azure Emperor Pirates’ shipping plan began.
• Zesi asked Doflamingo to find the Vinsmoke Family in the North Blue, explaining that he wanted Vinsmoke Judge for his scientific skills and knowledge from working with Vegapunk.
• Doflamingo agreed to find Judge, and Zesi said that if Judge refused despite being approached, he was too foolish to live.