Z's Ambition Arc - A Desperate Big Escape Strategy!

Soldiers loyal to Shuzo flood the deck and steamroll the Marines, freeing Luffy to keep chasing Shuzo while Zoro squares off with vice admiral Momonga. A single heavy cannon stroke from Zoro launches the officer backward straight through one of the warships. Studying the shifting swells, Nami catches sight of a Thrust-up Stream rising, a milder cousin of the Knock-up Stream that once carried the crew toward Sky Island yet still strong enough to wreck a ship. To anchor Panz Fry's raft against the surge, she aims Franky's anchors toward it and tips off Sanji and Lily beforehand. Shuzo's long reach gives Luffy trouble until Haki swings the duel back in his favor.

As Robin, Chopper, and Brook scramble to return, the streams tear apart several hulls and fling Usopp's Shark Submerge toward the Sunny. Once the crew is aboard, Nami fires a Coup de Burst the moment the raft rides the swell, and they rocket off. The raft then snaps, sending Luffy and Zoro tumbling, and Luffy snags it with a stretched arm even as Shuzo plants a Vivre-Card knife in the wreckage to keep their trail.

Coming down among some rocks, the crew sees to Panz Fry, whom Chopper expects will mend with rest. Lily owns up to taking both food and sake off the Marines, and although Sanji presses the wounded giant to stay still, Panz Fry refuses to disgrace himself as a chef and a giant by denying his rescuers, and he cooks regardless. Elsewhere, Shuzo dwells on the grueling bout, five hours long, that he lost to Ain, the contest that crowned her Z's second, and he vows to take that title for himself. With his torpedoes gone, he accepts several men volunteering to die as living shells, praising their resolve as the ships array themselves to shell the pirates.

The pirates and Lily finish springing Panz Fry in this entry. Shuzo destroys the overturned ship sheltering Momonga and his men, then gives chase to the crew. Z appears on television for the first time, seen only fleetingly within a flashback. That same flashback establishes that Shuzo, hoping to become Z's right hand, once dueled Ain and came up short.