A Big Collision! Chief of Staff Sabo vs. Admiral Fujitora

As the gladiators start scaling the relocated royal palace, the executives grow uneasy, having banked on the Marines to stop them cold. Luffy slices through the first tier with the Colosseum group catching up behind him, and Baby 5 spots the Marines penned in by a soaring wall of flame. Fujitora wonders aloud whether anything could shift the Revolutionary aside. Sabo answers that, serving the Revolutionary Army, he will allow no one through who means to harm Luffy or those beside him, then adds that he also stands here as an older brother, leaving the admiral puzzling over whose brother he could be.

Reading Sabo as a Logia, Bastille pulls his men back, and the gunfire they unleash passes harmlessly through his flame body. A Marine gawks at the power of his fingers, but Sabo brushes the term aside, dubbing them claws instead, and one hand closes around a bazooka, buckling the weapon until it bursts. Bastille moves up to handle the Revolutionary himself, only for Sabo to snap his blade between two fingers, seize his head with a boast about cracking a skull like an egg, and break his mask. High above, Issho calls down a meteor in hopes of piercing the Birdcage, yet the cage shears it apart and rains debris over the kingdom. Horrified, Fujitora prays no one was struck while his men demand he warn them next time.

Asked whether he understands the bind he is in, Sabo simply notes that he is still wrestling with Ace's flames, having just laid Bastille low. Fujitora recalls Ace as Luffy's brother and infers the same of Sabo, who confirms it, describing the unbreakable bond the three forged over shared drinks and stunning the Marines who overhear. He swears to appear whenever Luffy needs him, relives the grief of learning of Ace's death, and vows never to lose another loved one as he hurls himself at Fujitora.

The episode is part of the Dressrosa Arc, and Sabo's bout with the Marines runs far longer than in the manga, with a greatly stretched barrage and a use of Hiken before he faces Bastille. On the page he caught Bastille's Shark Cutter on first contact, while here he dodges instead, the blade cleaving through buildings. Added touches include Lao G stringing together three words starting with G and a quick spat between Orlumbus and Blue Gilly. This is the first installment to open with "Hard Knock Days," and it closes on a sound pun where Baby 5 makes a staring noise while Lao G simply utters "G."