Nerona Imu Descends

When the Five Elders realize their ruler intends to reach Elbaph alone, they push back, only for Garling to stride in and scold their assumption that the Holy Land is safe. He grants that Shamrock's return has steadied matters for now, yet stresses that the starvation campaign run by the Revolutionary Army is succeeding exactly as they foolishly doubted it would. A complaint call from York about dwindling food interrupts him, and he snaps back that she must hurry the recreation of the Mother Flame and own the consequences of her creator's work before cutting her off. Garling reflects that calamity has dogged Mary Geoise from the moment the name Nika resurfaced, wondering aloud whether fate or coincidence is at play.

The Elders float alternatives, an Admiral or even themselves, but Nusjuro notes their forces are too strained and Imu rejects every offer. He orders them to abandon arrogance, sloth, and pride, declaring that all of this was put in motion long before. His thoughts drift across Rocks' vow to return, the execution of Roger, how Shanks made off with the Gomu Gomu no Mi, the birth of Shirahoshi, the truth behind Loki's dragon fruit, and the rise of both Luffy and Blackbeard. Bitterly asking why the names Joy Boy and Davy Jones keep tormenting him when his single wish is Vivi, he opens an Abyss to carry himself to Elbaph, and the four remaining Elders concede they cannot stop him.

On Elbaph, Gerd shows Hajrudin how the bisected, rope-bound Sommers keeps trying to reconnect his halves, and Goldberg reveals the man's steel heart, prompting Zoro to wonder whether smashing it would kill him permanently, a thought that visibly unnerves Sommers. Franky watches over the downed Usopp and Brook while Jinbe searches for Chopper, and Sanji leaves Killingham trussed and dangling from a tree, brushing off the knight's furious demand to be remembered. The ice trapping Gunko begins to fracture just as five columns of black energy erupt above Aurust Castle, forming an Abyss Circle that animates the nearby houses and trees, followed by a sixth column at the castle's center that releases a burst of Conqueror's Haki and fells several onlookers.

Imu materializes within the throne room, sinks to his knees, and spits blood before transforming in screaming agony, the eruption blowing apart the castle roof to the shock of everyone, Sommers and Killingham included. Seated atop the ruins, he is shown in full for the first time and presented under his complete name, Saint Nerona Imu, the world's monarch, a member of the founding First Twenty, and the holder of the Akuma no Mi, whose name, rendered literally, simply reads as the Devil's Fruit. The cover request depicts Ace alongside O-Tama and Yamato guiding boar piglets along a marshy trail. The chapter belongs to the Elbaph Arc.