Chapter 1026

The Fire Festival goes on in the Flower Capital, where Hitetsu recalls Tama's departure for Onigashima and prays she stays safe, never aware that the island already floats above the city behind a thick veil of cloud. Atop the Skull Dome's roof, a Mary makes out Yamato and, overhead, two dragons, one Kaidou and the other a Momonosuke it cannot place, with Luffy perched on the latter's back.

Kaidou opens with a Bolo Breath that Momonosuke only just escapes. Luffy springs free and drives the Emperor down with Gomu Gomu no Elephant Gun, then asks the young dragon to bite him. Remembering all that Kaidou had done to him, Momonosuke pushes past his terror and sinks his teeth in, wringing a howl of pain, and Luffy follows with a conqueror's-aura-coated fist. The pair's flight whips up storm clouds that blot out the moon, knocking Inuarashi and Nekomamushi out of Sulong and swinging their duels toward Jack and Perospero.

Unknown to the festival crowd, Onigashima draws near the Flower Capital, and a flashback shows Hitetsu had opposed Tama's choice to travel there. A Mary on the roof relays the fight. Luffy and Momonosuke strike Kaidou, the boy biting the Emperor and causing him pain, and Kaidou reverts to his hybrid form. Momonosuke is urged by Luffy to fly off and halt the island, a message broadcast so all inside learn Luffy is fighting again and that the new dragon is the young lord. Luffy and Kaidou then collide through conqueror's aura, ripping the skies apart, after which the Mary faints.

With moonlight restored, the two Mink rulers reclaim their Sulong forms. Inuarashi cuts down Jack using Oden Ittoryu: Inu Spire. For his part, Nekomamushi defeats Perospero with the matching technique, Oden Ittoryu: Neko Niko Ban. It also comes out that Orochi survived a second beheading and had watched Inuarashi's bout with Jack.

Luffy calls out to Momonosuke, his words carried across Onigashima by a Mary, noting that his teeth had just sunk into one of the Four Emperors and asking whether he still fears anything; Momonosuke finds he no longer does. Both Minks had been gravely hurt and forced out of Sulong once the clouds hid the moon, regaining the form only after the aura clash swept the sky clear. The cover revisits the long-running sunflower-and-lion gag first seen in Chapter 77, with Nami and Leo stitching adorable outfits for a young lion in the same shirt design Bell-mère once made for Nami. This is the 1026th chapter of the Wano Country Arc.