The Incident of the Celestial Dragons

The dancing girl Pascia sells for just over seven million berries while, backstage, Saint Charlos kicks his slave for moving too slowly and decides the man is worthless. He muses that he would rather own a mermaid, hard as they are to capture. The next item, a former pirate strategist named Lacuba, suddenly chokes on his own blood and is dragged off. Sanji explains to a baffled Nami that the man bit through his tongue, choosing death over a life of bondage under the nobles.

Disco announces Camie next, and the Straw Hats steel themselves to win her with two hundred million. Charlos, thrilled to spot a mermaid, instantly bids five hundred million, silencing the room since no one can match it. When his father questions the purchase, Charlos says he wants her to race his piranhas. Camie's pleas to Hatchan die inside her soundproof tank. Luffy then bursts through the wall riding a flying fish with Zoro, charging for the tank. Hatchan restrains him using all six arms, exposing himself as a fish-man, and the crowd recoils in disgust.

As Luffy struggles down the aisle, two shots ring out: Charlos has gunned Hatchan down, gloating over a free fish-man kill while the buyers sneer about diseases. Luffy advances in cold fury. Hatchan, bleeding, blames himself and reminds Luffy of their pact never to retaliate against a Celestial Dragon even if someone is shot before them, grieving that he never repaid Nami for Cocoyasi Village. Charlos fires again to quiet him, then aims at Luffy and misses. Luffy answers with a punch so hard it leaves a fist-shaped crater in the noble's face.

The cover follows CP9's shopping outing, with Kalifa and Kumadori out buying and Kumadori feeding Hattori. This chapter delivers the series' first onscreen demonstration of how the world treats merfolk and Celestial Dragon slaves, grounding the abstract horror in Hatchan and Lacuba. Luffy's strike is the irreversible act that summons an Admiral and locks the arc onto its collision course.