The World Will Burn! The Onslaught of a Marine Admiral!

Shanks drifts toward Wano's coast and lets old memories surface. He pictures a long-ago raid on a vessel belonging to Cipher Pol's ninth unit, where his crew lifted a certain rubber Devil Fruit, only for a young Luffy to swallow it before anyone could stop him. Another recollection involves Bartolomeo, who once scorched a Red Hair banner planted on Shanks's turf and hoisted the Straw Hat crest over it. Almost every crewmember aches to see Luffy after the long gap, though Yasopp hangs back, unwilling to confront his son Usopp. In the end Shanks refuses to step into Wano at all, guiding his fleet past the island in his hunt for the One Piece.

Inside Marine Headquarters, Sakazuki gathers Kizaru and Kurouma, the head of the investigations bureau, to weigh the Revolutionary Army's raid on Mary Geoise. That strike ended with Cobra slain, Vivi vanished, and Kuma cut loose from bondage. The attack rallied insurgents across the globe behind Sabo, freshly crowned the Flame Emperor, and Kizaru remarks that Luffy's elevation to Emperor has expanded his brother's sway even further. As the briefing ends, Sakazuki grieves over his age yet pledges to grind down every force opposing the World Government. Out near the capital's flower district, Ryokugyu's scent reaches the Nine Red Scabbards, who break off and rush him. Calling on Kinniku Mori Mori, the admiral remakes himself into a timber golem that deflects each samurai strike, and the arriving Yamato and Momonosuke are crushed just as easily.

Several touches appear only in the anime, among them Ryokugyu glaring at and then driving a blade through Luffy's poster while pondering the man's pull on others, plus Shanks, after imagining how much Hiyori and Momonosuke have grown, casually sensing that the admiral has set foot nearby. Bartolomeo's banner-burning, lifted from a Grand Fleet side story, is staged here as well. The Scabbards departing the festival, their duel with Ryokugyu, and the assault on the CP9 ship are each given extra length. The entry sits within the Wano Country Arc.