Level 4: Inferno Hell

Along the prison's back passage, Hancock questions Momonga about when Ace will be put to death. He replies that the moment lies twenty-nine hours off, with the escort arriving the following day, assuming the one-in-a-thousand chance of a disruption does not occur. A Marine soon brings news of a fresh confrontation between Red-Haired Shanks and his fellow Emperor Kaidou, who had moved to cut off Whitebeard only for Shanks to block him. Powerless to act on it, Momonga admits the battle against Whitebeard can hardly be avoided now, and his vessel departs for Marineford.

Up in the shaft tower that rises over Level 3, Buggy and Mr. 3 quarrel with Luffy, pressing him to escape instead of pushing further in, while Bon Kurei urges him to pay them no mind. The ceiling appears to climb higher until they grasp that they are dropping into Level 4, squabbling over whose strike cracked the floor right before the savage heat strikes them.

By the pool of blood on Level 4, prisoners who attempt to escape the scorching air are driven skull-first into the seething pot by Daz Bonez. Magellan arrives with Hannyabal and a crowd of guards; they presume Luffy's group dropped into the pool, but discover that the falling debris sheltered them and that the Minotaurus has already been put down. Magellan stations Sadi and the Jailer Beasts to defend the Level 5 entrance and assigns Hannyabal's men to hold the Level 3 entrance. Picking his way across a bridge through the heat, Luffy dashes after the scent of food, collides with a knot of guards, and beats them down while Buggy and Mr. 3 take cover. The instant Mr. 3 warns that it is all finished should the warden show, Magellan plummets to the ground squarely in front of Luffy, braced for combat.

The cover depicts Sanji and a goat watching the sky from a snow-covered rooftop. The chapter establishes that Shanks blocked Kaidou to stop him from taking Whitebeard's head, and it sets the stage for the duel between Luffy and Magellan.