Summary:
Cracker introduces himself to Luffy as “Cookie Knight” and his sword as “Pretzel”; Cracker further declares that Pretzel has no equal among swords. A bystander Nami is shocked that Cracker has grown limbs and even a pretzel, and warns Luffy to back off as Cracker was likely an executive member of the Big Mom Pirates. However, Luffy refuses and attacks Cracker, hitting him with an Elephant Gun attack that Cracker easily blocks with his shields. Cracker then knocks Luffy away and attacks him with his augmented pretzels, which overwhelm Luffy as he tries to counter them. Cracker then rams a pretzel with Busoshoku Haki into Luffy’s stomach, sending Luffy flying far away, despite Luffy also being covered in Haki.
As she continues to watch, Nami realizes that they are really in over their heads if Luffy can’t defeat even one of Big Mom’s henchmen. She challenges Luffy to escape, but is blocked by Brûlée and Kingbaum. Laughing at their helplessness, Brûlée says that just like the other Worst Generation crews that entered the New World trying to make their captains a pirate king, the Strawmen hit the same wall and stumble. Brûlée further reveals that over the past two years, Eustass Kid, Scratchmen Apoo, Capone Bege, and Urouge have all entered Big Mom’s territory, but all but Bege (who submitted to them) were chased away without ever meeting the Big One. Mom herself. Brûlée throws the mirror at Nami’s feet and appears in it, saying that Urouge alone was able to defeat one of their former four commanders. However, an enraged Big Mom then sent Cracker to deal with him, leaving Brûlée to believe that Urouge’s corpse was lying somewhere in the forest. Brûlée scoffs at the mere thought of the Straw Hats being able to stand up to Big Mom and ruin her plans, emerging from the mirror and grabbing Nami by the ankles. He repeats that they too will perish without ever seeing the face of Big Mama.
As Brûlée drags Nami into the mirror, Nami calls out to Pound, who punches Brûlée wildly. Brûlée avoids it, but is forced to release Nami, who warns her stepfather that his actions now qualify as irredeemable rebellion against Big Mom. Nami then hits Brûlée with Thunderbolt Tempo, knocking her to the ground and scaring nearby friends. Pound warns that Brûlée will surely return as he can appear in any mirror, and Nami apologizes for dragging him into the conflict. However, Pound replies that it was resolved because Big Mom had assigned her minions to kill him at her leisure. He then asks Nami if she and Lola are really friends, which she confirms. Nami then pulls out Big Mom’s Vivre Card, saying that she wants to put it to good use.
The friends start running away from the pirates, shouting that it was more than they bargained for; however, Cracker repeats his orders not to let them leave the Seducing Woods alive. Luffy attacks Cracker with a Gatling Hawk, but Cracker easily blocks it with his Haki-infused shields, and Luffy remarks that Cracker’s Haki is the hardest he’s ever encountered. Cracker then slams Luffy into the ground and tells Luffy that if he truly considers himself Sanji’s friend, he will leave Sanji alone to get married and live a luxurious royal life. Cracker approaches Luffy as he berates him for his selfishness, saying that Sanji would not appreciate his former pirate crew chasing him and that even if Luffy managed to get past Cracker, Sanji would simply tell the “humble pirates” to they left . Enraged by these taunts, Luffy activates Gear 4 and blasts Cracker with the Kong Gun; Luffy warns him not to put words in Sanji’s mouth, saying that no matter how Sanji feels about marriage, he would never speak to the crew that way.