Summary:
Despite some tension between the two groups, Luffy reluctantly agrees to free Lucci and Kaku, allowing them to join the Seraphim. Meanwhile, Vegapunk was trapped in the lab, surprised by the events taking place under his nose and wondering how the world government found out about his Poneglyph research. Elsewhere on Elbaf, the Red-Haired Pirates welcome the reunited Giant Warrior Pirates and later confront the Kid Pirates, demanding their copies of the Road Poneglyph by challenging them to battle for them.
Zoro tells Luca and Kaku that he doesn’t see a future where, after they tie them up, they leave them tied up later. Kaku says that they will have them detained again, which seems to convince Luffy to help them, despite Zoro claiming that Kaku is lying to them. S-Hawk then launches a powerful flying slashing attack with his legs, causing Zoro to realize that the Devil Fruit power S-Hawk is using is Supa Supa no Mi, which was used by former Baroque Works agent Daz Bonez. After moving out of the way, Kaku uses the fact that he has to save them again as a reason to let them help if it means escaping alive.
Shaka asks the two agents what their mission is, and Lucci bluntly replies that their mission is to end Vegapunk and its satellites, much to Kaku’s annoyance that he gave this information so freely as he tried to convince the enemy to free them. . Shaka asks if Stussy is on the hit list due to his betrayal, which Lucci also confirms. Suddenly, he hears Nami screaming, which Zoro realizes means the other Seraphim are on the run. Finally, Luffy agrees to free Lucci and Kaku and asks Shaku for the keys. Shaka gives Luffy the keys, saying that she will trust his judgment as long as Stella escapes safely. Luffy turns to Lucci and asks him if he will follow his friends once they deal with the Seraphim. Zoro doesn’t believe he’s going to face such a taunt, but Lucci does and tells Luffy that she wants to kill him first and then go after her friends. S-Bear then fires Ursa Shock, but at that point both CP0 agents are freed. Luffy takes Gear Fourth and uses the Gomu Gomu no Kong Gun, while Lucci takes his hybrid form and uses Rokushiki Ogi: Rokuogan to simultaneously attack S-Bear. Zoro and Kaku team up against S-Hawk and throw him back with Santorya: Rengoku Oni Giri and Rankyaku “Hakurai”.
Meanwhile, deep in the lab, it is revealed that all of the CP5, CP7, and CP8 agents that were sent to the island have been imprisoned for the past two months. It seems that when the agents finished investigating the island, they tried to leave, but were attacked by the Sea Beast’s weapons, which forcefully brought them back. All the other agents who followed met the same fate as they tried to find their colleagues. The kicker was that everyone assumed that Dr. Vegapunk, but it turns out he was trapped with the rest of them. Vegapunk admits he had no idea any of this was going on, and finds it confusing that news of his Poneglyph research somehow escaped the World Government. It was subsequently revealed that the Marines were deploying about 100 ships of all sizes from the G-9 branch en route to Egghead.
In a small port on a certain island, a child asks Shanks if he can take him with him on his next trip. Shanks refuses because the kid is a bit hot-blooded, much to his annoyance. One of Shanks’ men arrives and informs him that they are under attack and if they should defend themselves. Shanks finally agrees and regrets letting it come to this as he reconnects with some of his old friends he believed to be dead. His friends become Dorry and Brogy, former captains of the Giant Warrior Pirates, who eventually left Little Garden and returned to Elbaf, the island Shanks is currently on. The two giants happily agree to help him when Shanks asks Rockstar to send a message to their attacker, who is the Eustass Kid; the message reads “give up the Road Poneglyph he has or risk fighting him”.
At the edge of the island, Kid realizes that virtually every pirate ship he sees belongs to big guns, all of whom have sworn allegiance to Shanks. Killer reveals that the last time they tried to fight him, it was a completely one-sided fight; Kid never got a chance to see Shanks. This time, Killer is worried that Kid might die in this next confrontation. However, Kid is not afraid and believes that he will only die if he loses the fight.