Ship Sailing Forth

Deep inside the prison's fourth tier, Blackbeard thanks Shiryu for slipping his crew the cure to Magellan's venom and asks him to come aboard, an invitation the former jailer accepts with pleasure. Out on the Tarai Current, Ivankov instructs everyone to let Inazuma sleep off the poison at his own pace, while Buggy and Luffy bicker over what becomes of Mr. 2. Crocodile puzzles over how a fish-man can speak to sea creatures, and Jinbe answers that his kind befriending the sea is nothing odd, though he grants that fish-men run cruder than merfolk.

Stepping onto the deck, Jinbe expresses gratitude that the boy allowed him a part in saving Ace and gives a proper introduction, confessing his Warlord standing is probably stripped now and that he intends to throw his full strength into the fight ahead, keeping faith with what Mr. 2 wished. The revelation that Jinbe held a Warlord seat leaves Luffy reeling, and Crocodile reminds Buggy that, having passed through the Gates of Justice, the current allows them no destination other than the battle waiting at Marine Headquarters, which is precisely the spectacle the breakout was chasing.

A Den Den Mushi rings with a Marine escort fleet naming Luffy and Buggy as the breakout's chief architects. The call exposes Buggy's history serving aboard Gol D. Roger's vessel and his sworn brotherhood with the Emperor Shanks, stunning the whole crowd, and it adds that the Marines never planned to open the Gates for them.

The freed inmates roar in celebration of Buggy's suddenly legendary name. After briefly fantasizing about claiming Whitebeard's head, Buggy resolves to push on to the Marine base, and the throng swears to follow wherever he leads. At Marineford, with three hours left, Ace mounts a long staircase to the scaffold, remembering the pledge he and Luffy once made to live without regret.

This installment brings the Impel Down storyline to its end. In the cover story, Franky stumbles onto Vegapunk's abandoned laboratory. Shiryu formally enlists with Blackbeard's crew, and Buggy draws a loyal following thanks to his ties to the Roger Pirates.