Chapter 535

Above the Level 3 entrance, Hannyabal stands over a beaten Buggy and Galdino, admitting he would have waved them through to pin the blame on Magellan had they not charged him directly. On the Level 4 bridge, a disguised Bentham cuts through guards, apologizing for abandoning Luffy to the warden. Magellan mocks Luffy for believing any strike could harm him, savoring the agony the poison inflicts. Luffy keeps swinging, but every blow lands feebly, and a cloud of toxin shuts down his senses entirely.

Far below on Level 6, Ace asks what is unfolding upstairs and receives no answer. Magellan finishes Luffy with a decisive attack and orders him stored on Level 5, reasoning the boy has roughly a day left to live and will never reach Ace. The prisoners there recognize the poison treatment and write him off. Returning to Level 3, Magellan finds Hannyabal and his men crushed; Hannyabal blames Mr. 2, then withdraws into the interrogation room where the disguise drops away. Revealing he had been impersonating the vice-warden, Bentham declares he is going back for Luffy, and when Buggy calls it pointless, he insists that friendship needs no further justification.

Magellan defeats Luffy and has the guards deposit his poisoned body in Level 5, the prison's Freezing Hell. Bentham, who had been posing as Hannyabal to deceive Magellan, resolves to rescue Luffy regardless of the odds.

The chapter is titled "Friend." Its content was adapted across Episode 436 and Episode 437. The cover art continues the Straw Hats and Animals run with Brook lifting weights beside a muscular monkey. Events take place during the Impel Down arc.