Great Misfortune

Demanding the return of his stolen swords, Zoro gets only refusal as Sham flings the blades away to free himself for combat, a move that grates on the swordsman. Zoro slices what he believes is a fatal cut and turns to recover his weapons, then discovers Sham still alive, the strike having caught nothing but the loose fabric hanging off his bony body. Buchi barrels in and pins Zoro to the ground, but Zoro throws Sham clear and narrowly twists away from Buchi's crushing landing, which splits the earth on impact.

Stuck wielding one sword against two opponents, Zoro recognizes that a solid hit from Buchi's technique would shatter every bone he has. The brothers tear into him with a storm of claw swipes, and all he can manage is to hold them off. When Usopp lets a slingshot pellet fly to help, Zoro absorbs the shot himself rather than break his guard, then takes Buchi's follow-up. Nami scolds Usopp for the botched assist until Usopp explains the hit was caught on purpose, and Zoro warns the pair that landing any blow would only redirect the Nyaban Brothers onto them.

Rushing to grab Zoro's blades, Nami is cut along the side when Jango hurls his ring at her. A sudden wave of unease then grips Jango and both brothers as Kuro materializes above them at the slope's crest, furious that dawn has already passed without his scheme set in motion. The color cover reimagines the crew in a wuxia style, Luffy and Zoro hoisting tridents and Nami in a qipao beside a winding golden dragon. That same cover art, later redrawn to include Usopp, was reused for the closing credits sequence of the first One Piece feature film.