Chapter 34

The fighting pauses around a knocked-out Luffy. Nami, trying to rouse him, ends up stepping on his face just as Jango's bladed ring sails toward her and lodges in the back of Luffy's skull. Rather than dropping, the rubber boy plants his feet, halts the cutting edge, and casually pulls the weapon free, demanding to know who flung it. The Black Cat Pirates grasp that no five-minute deadline will let them put him down.

Realizing Nami is wounded, Luffy turns his focus to Kuro, who shortens his crew's window to three minutes to finish off the Straw Hats and Usopp. Kaya then arrives, having heard the truth from Merry, and her hope that her old butler still exists crumbles as he speaks. She apologizes to Usopp and offers Kuro her entire inheritance to spare the village.

Kuro refuses the bribe, explaining that wealth alone never interested him; what he craved was a tranquil existence, and his three years of feigned service were all groundwork toward inheriting her estate. He coldly labels their shared memories meaningless and confirms the day is meant to end with her death. Kaya, devastated, lets a gun she had drawn on Usopp fall from her hands.

Usopp, enraged at the betrayal of Kaya's feelings, lunges at Kuro but is easily evaded. As the former captain prepares to retaliate, Luffy steps in and lands a punch, vowing to ruin Kuro's day. The chapter's color cover art, redrawn to add Usopp and Pandaman, later appeared in the credits sequence of One Piece: The Movie.