Chapter 527

A Blugori swings its axe at Buggy, but his Bara Bara fruit lets his split body dodge while his lower half hurls the beast skyward. After Buggy spins it down with an aerial technique, Luffy finishes the creature with a single punch, having already flattened several of the gorillas. Watching prisoners marvel and beg for the door to be opened, while nearby guards puzzle over a third escaped shadow. Buggy admits he knows Ace but refuses to help, then reverses course once he hears that warships wait outside, agreeing to a deal: he will guide Luffy in exchange for the armband.

Buggy has Luffy grip his feet and leads him toward Level 2, confusing Luffy until he lays out the prison's design. Five tiers each hold prisoners sorted by the severity of their crimes and their strength, growing more dangerous the lower one goes. Buggy reveals he was tortured on Level 4 before landing on Level 1, the limit of his own experience, and warns that Ace, a major figure, is likely held even below Level 5 among criminals so notorious they were erased from history.

Buggy lets slip that the armband once belonged to Captain John and marks the path to his treasure, assuming Luffy never noticed, then tries to kill him on realizing he did. Luffy simply hands it over despite expecting betrayal. Overcome, Buggy weeps in gratitude while plotting his escape, only to run face-first into a wall. Luffy punches him straight through it, crashing them through the guard room and out into Crimson Hell. Insisting he has a plan, Buggy steers them toward the escape route linking to the harsher Level 2; Luffy leaps down it, and a thrown Blugori axe knocks Buggy in after him. Below, on Level 2's Wild Beast Hell, the monsters grow restless while Mr. 3 sits calmly in his cell.

The cover advances CP9's Independent Report to volume 32, introducing Spandam's father Spandine in the present timeline. Rumor places Ace as low as Level 6. The armband Luffy received from Nami is confirmed to be Captain John's treasure marker. Level 2 is named Wild Beast Hell, holding the imprisoned Mr. 3, whose real name is Galdino.