Chapter 568

Whitebeard urges his side not to flinch at Garp, brushing the veteran off as an aging man. Akainu reminds him they belong to the same generation, then hurls a magma hound that the captain deflects, wrecking more of the fortress. As the pirates carve through the lines and savage a Pacifista, Ace breaks down in tears recalling his childhood, when anyone who spoke ill of Roger got beaten bloody by him. He remembers asking Garp whether he deserved to exist, and the old man answering that only living could reveal it. Overwhelmed that his comrades would bleed for him, Ace admits he suddenly wants to survive.

Outside the encircling wall, Buggy and the Impel Down escapees sit marooned on a slab of ice, thawed loose by the magma sea, with Buggy plotting revenge on the Marines. The momentum then swings hard. Whitebeard buckles as old age catches up to him. Marco rushes to guard him but, unguarded himself, is run through by Kizaru, and Jozu's arm is frozen by Aokiji. Akainu drives a magma fist straight into Whitebeard's chest. Ivankov scolds Luffy for begging another dose, warning it could kill him, yet Luffy insists he would rather die trying than fail Ace. Relenting, Ivankov injects him, and Luffy rises with a roar.

The chapter reveals that figures beyond Ace, Squard, and the Level 6 inmates also despised Gol D. Roger. Ace reclaims his will to live. The three top Whitebeard fighters, the captain himself plus Marco and Jozu, all take serious wounds from the admirals. Luffy receives a fresh injection of Tension Hormones and rejoins the fight.

The title borrows a phrase suggesting defiant independence, fitting Luffy's refusal to stand down. Ivankov frames the stakes around Dragon, warning that Luffy's death would leave him unable to face the revolutionary leader. The cover shows Zoro hunting a lion camouflaged among sunflowers, part of the ongoing Straw Hats and Animals series.