Chapter 1145: Wildfire in Forest Sector 2, Branch Route 8

Off hunting in the Underworld, Goldberg, Zoro, and Sanji run into a huge Groggysaurus. Goldberg's sentient shield Nash catches the creature's bite, and Sanji flings Zoro skyward to take its head off. Goldberg explains that the meat tastes best stewed in alcohol and that a nearby hunting cabin holds the tools they need. Pressed about the living shield, he reveals Nash awakened as a Homie, like Zeus, after his own father set out to slay Big Mom, and that he was startled to learn one of Nash's rank now answered to Nami.

Speaking to Luffy and to Hajrudin's New Giant Warrior Pirates, Loki names the Knights of God as his attackers, brushing aside Hajrudin's theory of sea-faring revenge. When the cooked meat arrives, Luffy nearly chokes the wounded giant by forcing it down and spilling boiling soup on him, drawing a thumbs-up from Gerd. Loki concedes he gets Luffy's wish to reunite with a hero, since he felt the same in his youth. A flashback shows a young Loki begging to sail with the Rocks Pirates, only for Rocks D. Xebec to refuse and beat him down, leaving him to mourn that he was born too late. In the Sun World, Gaban fells a Loki-shaped beast and senses the Knights, declaring the world finished if even Elbaph is unsafe.

The blaze around Treasure Tree Adam proves too vast for the firefighters as the entranced children march toward it. At the brink, Jinbe lets loose Umigumo Ipponzeoi, flinging a torrent of sea clouds that snuffs the fire, then slips back onto Colon's vessel unseen. The children remain bound to Gunko's arrow, and Colon admits his schoolmates dislike him yet swears to aid the crew anyway, just as Gunko alights on the bow, marking him as her prey. The issue ran with a Midori Matsuda color spread celebrating the anime's return from a six-month break at an 11:15 pm slot. The cover continues the Yamato pilgrimage serial.