Egghead Labophase

The Heart Pirates trade blows with the Blackbeard Pirates at sea. Law tasks Hakugan with the Polar Tang and sends Shachi and Penguin into the water. When Teach unleashes a quake attack, Law counters by slicing Stronger apart and impaling Teach from within, surprising even Blackbeard at how far Law's awakening has progressed. Doc Q's exploding apples are shot out of the air by Shachi. Bepo's sharp ears warn Jean Bart of Van Augur's sniper line on Law, and Jean Bart shields his captain. Augur, after warping in, urges a retreat, but Blackbeard charges back in regardless, noting that every officer he commands now wields a Devil Fruit despite the shared weakness Law points out.

Their prisoner, Charlotte Pudding, taken earlier by Kuzan and Augur, taunts the crew that Big Mom's death is the only reason they act so bold. At Marine Headquarters, Sakazuki receives word of the battle yet can only wait, cursing the burdens of being Fleet Admiral.

On Egghead, Bonney uses her power to age Luffy and Chopper into elderly men while shrinking herself and Jinbe into children to slip past a Pacifista. Jinbe recounts Kuma's known history: a tyrant king of Sorbet who was overthrown, turned pirate, joined the Revolutionary Army, was imprisoned, and gained Warlord status by letting Vegapunk turn him into a cyborg clone source. Enraged, Bonney insists Kuma was never a tyrant, despised the World Government, and was experimented on against his will, mentioning that he told her she descends from a special race. Meanwhile, Lilith deposits the Sunny on the island, Zoro and Brook stay to guard it, the others change clothes and enter Labophase, and inside, Shaka confides to Dragon that he senses his own death drawing near.

Kuzan and Van Augur, holding the captured Pudding, rejoin a Blackbeard ship while the Heart and Blackbeard crews keep fighting. Blackbeard confirms all his officers now hold Devil Fruit powers, Law bisects Stronger and stabs Teach, and the Polar Tang joins Penguin and Shachi in attacking. By Den Den Mushi, Sakazuki learns of the duel.

Bonney ages Luffy and Chopper to old men and herself and Jinbe to children to evade a Pacifista, then defends Kuma against the tyrant label, claims he belongs to a special group targeted by the government, and arms herself with a beam sword. Lilith delivers the Sunny to the Egghead lab in the clouds, the crew aside from Zoro and Brook disembark and change, and Shaka warns Dragon that they may soon die.

The cover advances the Germa 66 serial, showing Pudding seized by the Blackbeard Pirates in its twenty-second part. Trivia notes a first: a single chapter shows both Pudding and Augur appearing physically within the cover side story and the main timeline at once. Crocodile once featured in both a cover and its chapter back in Chapter 398, though there his role was only a flashback. The entry sits in the Egghead Arc beside its running Germa 66 side serial.