Chapter 1000: Straw Hat Luffy

With the Musketeers opening a route upward and Marco flinging Zoro toward the roof, Yamato hands the Oden journal back into Momonosuke's keeping and drifts toward a memory of Ace. Long ago Ace let slip what Luffy longed to accomplish, phrasing that matched a line Yamato had already found written in Oden's log as a quote from Roger. The two crafted a Vivre Card so they might reunite, yet Yamato's half faded the day Ace perished. Back now, Yamato explains the log's prophecy: should Oden die, a fresh wave of formidable pirates would push into the New World and bring Kaidou down two decades later.

On the rooftop, Luffy arrives beside Zoro, Law, Kid, and Killer to find Kaidou and Big Mom waiting. Ignoring both Emperors, Luffy crosses to the battered Kin'emon, who pleads with him to shoulder Wano now that the Scabbards have failed. Luffy accepts without hesitation, calling this the homeland of people he cares for.

When Kaidou raises his club, Luffy has Law shift the wounded Scabbards to safety inside the dome and springs above the beast. Rising into Gear 3, he replays the road that carried him this far: the Minks refusing to betray Raizo, Momonosuke's weeping resolve, the killing of Yasuie, Hyougoro's grateful tears, and how Oden truly met his end. Luffy then unleashes a fresh technique, Gomu Gomu no Red Roc, catching Kaidou full in the face and hammering him into the earth with enough force to draw blood.

Stunned to see her fellow Emperor knocked flat, Big Mom can only stare. Luffy declares himself the man destined to eclipse the pair of them and take the crown of Pirate King, the ambition Yamato had just tied all the way back to Roger.

Marking the series' one-thousandth installment, the color spread completes a celebratory poster begun in the prior chapter, gathering the crew around a treasure feast. Oda designed it as a callback to the Chapter 100 spread, echoing that older image's Luffy-and-Nami pose, lettering, and backdrop. The publisher's social accounts had run a ten-issue countdown showing each crewmate's debut art. Notably, Luffy's parting silhouette resembles Shanks lifting off his hat in the very first chapter, a similarity Oda later said was accidental. Part of the Wano Country Arc.