Ticking Down to the Great Battle! The Straw Hats Go into Combat Mode

Having split from Zoro and Kawamatsu, Hiyori leaves the two to later reassure Momonosuke and the Scabbards that she is alive. Zoro accepts Enma and feels its raw power, Luffy keeps drilling his Armament Haki, and the alliance ties up the last of its preparations. With the Fire Festival one day away, Momonosuke and his retainers march toward the agreed rendezvous.

Kawamatsu assures the Scabbards that Hiyori pulled through. Tama's grandfather, going by Tenguyama Hitetsu, takes back the sword Luffy had borrowed from his home, then produces Enma, the blade Hiyori had promised, and passes it to Zoro. Trying it on a tree, Zoro discovers the sword pulls out far more Ryuo than he meant, slicing away a chunk of cliff. Hitetsu explains that Enma is considered impossible to handle because it always drains an excessive amount of the user's Haki, yet Zoro keeps practicing on bamboo. Kin'emon lays out the coming battle and notes that even four thousand men leave them badly outmatched against the roughly thirty thousand under Orochi and Kaidou.

Luffy keeps hammering sheets of metal in his struggle to learn Ryuo and still falls short. Deciding it is time to go, Chopper carries Luffy on his back to Kin'emon's camp, where word arrives that the yakuza bosses have rallied four hundred more fighters. With a single day left, Kin'emon's group heads off early for the port. The Straw Hats stay behind at the graves of Yasuie and Pedro, and Hitetsu, impressed that Zoro can master Enma, reveals it answers to him because Enma and the Wado Ichimonji share a single maker, the swordsmith Shimotsuki Kouzaburou. Zoro declares he will make Enma a Black Blade. At Udon, Babanuki lies to Orochi that nothing is wrong, but Orochi already knows the rendezvous point has changed and that Hiyori survived. Luffy at last grasps Ryuo, splitting a tree with the blast, which closes out the arc's second act.

The To Be Continued card shows cherry petals drifting down, signaling that Wano's second stretch has concluded. Added moments include Momonosuke picturing a grown Hiyori dropkicking him, Luffy drilling surrounded by several steel plates, Enma draining Zoro's Haki, the alliance cheering 4,200 troops, and Tama handing Momonosuke a kasa hat. A post-episode message featuring Luffy and Chopper promoted the milestone Chapter 1000, and the cover of Chapter 967 appeared to plug Arashi's song. The episode belongs to the Wano Country arc.