Akainu's Plot! Whitebeard Entrapped!

The blade still lodged in Whitebeard leaves pirates and Marines alike reeling. Squard withdraws his sword and accuses the Emperor of cutting a bargain with the Navy, sacrificing the forty-three allied captains so Ace and the core crew could be spared. Marco insists the Navy has deceived him, but a broken Squard demands to be killed. A flashback shows how Akainu sought him out, exploited his old hatred of Roger, whose men once slaughtered Squard's crew, and revealed that Ace is Roger's son.

Aokiji freezes Buggy and his followers to kill the last broadcast, and Sengoku raises the encircling walls. Rather than condemn the man who stabbed him, Whitebeard embraces Squard, naming Sengoku as the true author of the lie and refusing to blame a child for a father's sins. With two tremors he splits the surrounding ice, handing his allies an escape route, then rallies them to choose their own path and charge back into the fight.

Squard explains the betrayal and exposes Ace's parentage to the stunned crews. Flashbacks detail Akainu manipulating him with the promise that killing Whitebeard would spare the New World allies. Aokiji freezes Buggy's group, cutting the Sabaody broadcast, and the walls begin to rise. Whitebeard forgives and hugs Squard, cracks the ice with his quakes to free the trapped fleet, and orders his pirates onward.

The episode adapts Chapter 563, pages 2 through 17. The anime fleshes out the scene of Akainu persuading Squard to turn on Whitebeard, and it adds glimpses of Squard's past, including the day Whitebeard first met him and shared moments with Ace and the crew. Whitebeard reminds Crocodile that every person carries a heart and no one stays strong forever.