Chapter 529

Though branded a pirate who hates pirates, Jinbe tells Ace that the Whitebeard Pirates are an exception. He recalls visiting Whitebeard's ship many times during Ace's tenure as Second Division Commander, and Ace remembers a clash in which the fish-man nearly killed him. Jinbe credits Whitebeard alone for the peace on Fish-Man Island, which sits on the route most pirates take toward the New World. In the early days of the pirate age, waves of humans and pursuing Marines passed through and abducted countless fish-men and mermaids, until Whitebeard declared the island his territory. From that day no hand was raised against its people, and Jinbe fears the old cruelty would return should Whitebeard fall.

Jinbe voices his wish to break out and stop the war, only to be cut off by a laughing voice relishing a once-in-a-lifetime shot at killing Whitebeard. The whole level joins in, prisoners roaring that the age of Whitebeard should end, the speaker noting how many "silver medalists" still nurse defeats handed to them by Whitebeard or Roger.

Monitors show the flattened Level 2 monitor room, and jailers realize three intruders, not two, are loose. Luffy, Buggy, and Mr. 3 fight puzzle scorpions and manticores, the latter parroting prisoners' demands for keys and shouting nonsense about underwear and beef steak that nearly distracts Luffy. Trying to slip away, Mr. 3 instead runs into the Sphinx, a human-faced winged lion that is the level's boss. The trio's plan to use Luffy as bait backfires when his Gomu Gomu no Bazooka only enrages it. Mr. 3 spawns wax decoys in a game of whack-a-mole, but as the Sphinx smashes them the floor gives way, dropping the beast and all three men down to Level 3.

The cover shows Luffy riding a beetle at night, its glowing eyes lighting the way. The chapter establishes that Fish-Man Island falls under Whitebeard's protection and sends the trio plummeting toward Level 3 with the Sphinx in tow. Crocodile is glimpsed but not fully revealed.