Chapter 1023

The samurai cheer Zoro's comeback as he and Sanji bear down on King and Queen, both All-Stars climbing back to their feet despite the hits. When a Beasts Pirate tries to shoot Zoro, Kawamatsu strikes him down, and Hyougoro orders the allies to keep clear of the two swordsmen's bouts. Marco, watching King, remembers a story Whitebeard once told of a "God's Land" perched on the Red Line in an age preceding Mary Geoise, and Izou drags him from danger while ribbing that he sounds like their drunk captain.

Queen reopens fire, then recoils at the sight of Sanji's Diable Jambe. He is certain Vinsmoke Judge enhanced every one of his children and that the flaming leg is one such alteration. Sanji denies it flatly, calling himself fully human with flames born of feeling rather than science, since only the Lunarians could ignite. Across the floor, Zoro discovers his blades catching in the notches of King's serrated sword, which King flings aside, though Zoro reclaims them and guards with the blade in his mouth.

The Live Stage battle carries on. King and Queen rise again after the blows from Zoro and Sanji, and Kawamatsu and Izou arrive on the floor. King squares off with Zoro while Queen continues against Sanji. After a third use of the Raid Suit, a strange sensation creeps over Sanji's body, and Queen, a wielder of Armament Haki, supposes the Diable Jambe to be a Judge enhancement before naming King's people Lunarians. King's serrated blade snags both Enma and the Sandai Kitetsu and throws them away, yet Zoro promptly recovers them.

Watching from a distance, Hyougoro and Kawamatsu trace Zoro's ties to the Shimotsuki Family, observing Ushimaru's matching style, Ryuma's standing as a one-eyed samurai, and Ushimaru's direct descent from Ryuma. Inuarashi battles Jack on in hybrid form, hurls him toward Ashura Doji's chamber, and turns Sulong under moonlight from the roof hole. Nekomamushi goes Sulong to face Perospero as Wanda and Carrot look on. The duel between Raizo and Fukurokuju carries on. On the Wano shore, the massive dragon facing Luffy, the Heart Pirates, and Shinobu turns out to be Momonosuke after his transformation, now twenty-eight years old.

From a distance Kawamatsu and Hyougoro remark on Zoro's likeness to Shimotsuki Ushimaru in his youth and to the ancestor Ryuma whose gift Ushimaru inherited, noting that the blade Shusui, once Ryuma's, was carried back to Wano by Zoro, who shares the swordsman's single eye. On the second floor, the moon shining through the roof hole turns Inuarashi Sulong, and Nekomamushi likewise transforms outside as he corners Perospero. Down at the port, the Heart Pirates panic at a dragon they mistake for Kaidou, yet Luffy recognizes Momonosuke, aged twenty years by Shinobu, who weeps because the boy now mirrors his father. The Japanese title renders in English as "Spitting Image." This is the 1023rd chapter of the Wano Country Arc, its cover answering a request for Vivi singing with sparrows as a jealous Karoo looks on; the original issue opened with the first of a three-part fold-out poster of the top fifty characters from the seventh popularity poll.