All Things Are Brought Into This World With Hope

With Atlas downed by Rob Lucci, the researchers scatter. Jinbe grasps that CP0 has come to kill Vegapunk. Kaku, irritated to face the Straw Hats and Bonney again, reminds Lucci that Luffy's status as an Emperor bars them from attacking without clearance, a point Stussy echoes, so Luffy's presence is simply reported upward. Luffy leaves Bonney with Jinbe, rushes to the fallen Atlas, and asks Chopper to treat her, though Chopper suspects Franky is better suited to the task.

At Marine Headquarters, Sakazuki learns the Straw Hats are on Egghead and wonders if Vegapunk summoned them. He notes Kizaru is already en route and forbids Lucci from engaging, but Lucci, unnerved by Luffy's strength, attacks anyway. From Labophase, the satellites and crew watch the duel and notice Lucci's altered look. Shaka explains that Lucci has awakened his Devil Fruit, a state that can strip away a user's personality, which accounts for his recklessness.

Vegapunk appears behind the group and asks if they know the name of Luffy's new form, since he too has awakened. When Nami guesses the form simply belongs to the Gomu Gomu no Mi, Vegapunk reveals its name was never logged in the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia of old. He describes Luffy's form as resembling an old god, the Warrior of Liberation, the playful Sun God Nika, erased from history yet kept alive by people's longing. He theorizes that Devil Fruits embody human wishes and that the sea, the mother of nature, rejects their users as abnormalities. As Luffy and Lucci clash in awakened states reminiscent of the Kaidou fight, Sentomaru arrives. Reminded that Vegapunk once lifted him out of poverty, Sentomaru agrees to turn on CP0, seizing S-Bear to strike them. Stussy explains the Seraphim's authority hierarchy, topped by the Five Elders, then Vegapunk and his satellites, then Sentomaru. Luffy lands a Mogura Pistol on Lucci, and Sentomaru orders the Seraphim to escort the crew and hold off CP0, but Lucci impales Sentomaru, declaring that toppling the control tower will return the Seraphim to them.

Luffy finds the unconscious Atlas and clashes with Lucci, handing Bonney to Jinbe while Jinbe and Chopper evacuate Atlas and Bonney. Lucci's Devil Fruit awakens into a form akin to Gear 5, and Shaka notes awakened Zoans usually lose their minds, with Lucci an exception. Sakazuki orders Lucci's group to hold until Kizaru arrives and suspects Vegapunk has sided with the Straw Hats.

Vegapunk reunites with his satellites, observes the fight, and states the Gomu Gomu no Mi's name was never recorded in the ancient encyclopedia while noting Gear 5 resembles Nika. He shares his theory that Devil Fruits arise from human desire, an unnatural evolution the sea rejects. Sentomaru arrives with S-Hawk, S-Snake, and S-Shark, commands S-Bear against CP0, and reluctantly rebels, before Lucci knocks him out so CP0 can reclaim the Seraphim.

The cover advances the Germa 66 serial with a flashback to the MADS laboratory and its backer Lu Feld in the twenty-sixth installment. Trivia notes that the panels of Luffy and Lucci colliding mirror their earlier bout in Chapter 409. The chapter belongs to the Egghead Arc and runs alongside its running Germa 66 side serial.