Knock Up Stream

Nami frets that the captain is running forty-six minutes behind and that they will lose their chance at the stream, while Sanji and Usopp agree he would never stop to figure out travel time. Chopper fears he has been beaten, yet Luffy comes bounding back unhurt, brandishing a hercules beetle he has dubbed Hercules and leaving everyone confused. He gapes at the reshaped, fowl-like Going Merry, then hands back the gold he carried. As for the captain's gratitude over the vessel, Cricket waves it aside and points him toward Masira and Shoujou instead, so Luffy thanks the pair and presents them the beetle. Recalling how often the City of Gold has been mocked as Noland's daydream, Cricket bellows at his alliance to give it everything for the crew, then waves them off with the thought that no one has ever shown that the golden city and Sky Island truly fail to exist.

From their raft, the Blackbeard Pirates press on after the captain, aware he means to climb to Sky Island and that pinning him down afterward will only grow harder. Masira and Shoujou warn that the stream rises in a fresh spot every time, so they must reach the area early to fix its position, while Luffy busies himself tormenting the captured South Bird, which fights to point north before its neck snaps back south. Three hours on, the Millennium Cumulonimbus looms in from the southwest ahead of schedule, and the divers pinpoint the target.

Shoujou's sonar charts a powerful current dead ahead, a Sea King off to the right, and great swells marking a whirlpool to the northwest, the herald of the brewing eruption. At Robin's prompting, Nami checks the log pose, which again aims straight up. The whirlpool swells to a colossal size, and the brothers reveal the ship has to plunge into its very heart. Nami loses her composure and Usopp begs to retreat, but Zoro tells him the moment to turn around has passed as the captain delights in finally rising toward Sky Island.

The chapter establishes that the Going Merry's overhaul was meant to withstand the brutal conditions around the Knock Up Stream, and that Blackbeard chases the captain in order to claim a Warlord's seat. The cover continues the Animal Theater feature, with Robin sprouting an extra leg for an injured hyena. It falls within the Jaya Arc.