Chapter 246

God's four priests confer over the class 2 offense the Straw Hats committed and ready their punishment. Drifting along the milky road, Luffy, Sanji, and Usopp reach a fork of four doors, each labeled for a separate trial: Orb, String, Iron, and Swamp. Luffy offhandedly picks Orb and the other two go along with it. Beyond the door lies a long dark passage, and at its end the floor drops away. Certain they have plunged off Sky Island, the three panic before landing on an extension of the milky road that winds into a forest dotted with cloud spheres of every size.

A giant serpent attacks but Luffy hurls it aside. Soon a large white orb blocks their way, and when Sanji kicks it loose, it detonates in their faces. A voice explains these are surprise orbs whose contents no one can foresee, and a man steps forward naming himself Satori, one of Enel's priests. When Luffy swings at him, Satori reads the strike, slips it, and counters with an impact dial fixed to his palm. Sanji's follow-up is likewise anticipated through a power called Mantra, and Usopp fares no better. Satori then sends the boat, the crew's only route to the altar, gliding off down the milky road before announcing that the Trial of Orb carries just a 10 percent survival rate.

Luffy, Usopp, and Sanji open their fight with Satori inside the Ordeal of Balls, where the odds of survival sit at 10 percent, and the chapter marks the debut of Mantra. The color spread shows Usopp, Luffy, Nami, and Chopper lounging in a swamp, with a comic chain of rocks about to be thrown. Featured characters include the involved Straw Hats and the priests Ohm, Shura, Gedatsu, and Satori.