Z's Ambition Arc

This non-canon arc carries the freshly reunited crew into a sub-sea of the New World whose weather defies all logic, dropping hail, snow, and splitting oceans on them within minutes. It introduces Lily Enstomach, a giant who ate the Mini Mini no Mi and can shrink to insect size, along with her father Panz Fry, a legendary pirate chef who steals food to feed the starving. The story functions as a promotional lead-in to the twelfth movie, introducing the Neo Marines and their leader Z.

As the first filler set in the New World, it leans on the crew's post-timeskip abilities, with Luffy's Haki, Nami's weather mastery learned on Weatheria, and Robin's expanded powers all on display. Both this arc and the film it precedes have been confirmed as outside the official continuity.

After surviving the Maubeugemour Sea's chaotic weather, the crew finds their food being devoured by a tiny stowaway who balloons into a giant woman. The intruder is Lily Enstomach, who explains she is searching for her father, the volcano-cooking chef Panz Fry, captured by the Marines and bound for Impel Down. Lured by the promise of his legendary cuisine, the Straw Hats agree to help, and Nami devises a two-team rescue to intercept the heavily guarded raft carrying him.

The operation collapses when the Neo Marines strike, led by the former Marine Shuzo, who intends to behead Panz Fry to prove himself worthy as Z's second in command. Vice Admiral Momonga unexpectedly protects the prisoner, and amid the three-way clash Nami exploits an erupting Thrust Up Stream to launch the raft and Panz Fry to safety. Shuzo, obsessed with reclaiming his rank from the rival Ain, refuses to relent and tracks the crew using a Vivre Card he planted.

Shuzo corners the Straw Hats again, sacrificing his loyal men in suicide rushes against their ship. He overwhelms Luffy with his Six Powers techniques and a Devil Fruit-powered bazooka partner named Alpacacino, until Lily shrinks inside Luffy and expands, transforming him into a temporary giant. In this enlarged Gear 2 form Luffy finally overpowers Shuzo and Alpacacino. Momonga later captures Shuzo using the same Vivre Card trick and sends him to Impel Down.

The crew shares a grand feast of Panz Fry's volcano cooking before parting ways with the two giants, Luffy promising Lily a future rematch. Elsewhere, Z learns of Shuzo's defeat from the newspaper but remains unshaken, vowing to wipe every pirate from the New World as he heads toward Firs Island. Years later, the manga would canonically grant Luffy a genuine version of Lily's giant-growth ability through his Gear 5 awakening.