Chapter 589

The flashback resumes on the cliff where Sabo's farewell letter was read. A grieving Luffy is struck by Ace, who scolds him that a treasure worth nothing if it cannot be guarded, and the two pledge to grow strong enough to shield the people they love. Ace swears he will not die while he still has a fragile younger sibling depending on him, and both vow to live free of regret. Recalling that nobility is only formally granted at eighteen, they resolve to leave Goa and set sail at seventeen instead.

Months roll by across several glimpses: the Gray Terminal being rebuilt by fresh garbage, Dragon boarding a vessel bound for Baltigo, and young Zoro training in Shimotsuki Village. Ace and Luffy keep sharpening themselves, building crude shacks they dub their own little countries and surviving the jungle's beasts alone. After Luffy is mauled by a bear, a remorseful Ace carries him back to the bandits to be healed.

At seventeen Ace finally departs by boat, waving to Luffy, Makino, and the others, while Dadan stays behind and weeps over his simple thank-you note. Three more years later, a seventeen-year-old Luffy takes his own dinghy out from Foosha Village, calls out a challenge to his absent brothers, knocks out the Lord of the Coast in a single blow, and declares he will be Pirate King. The flashback ends, and on Amazon Lily a hollow Luffy mocks that ambition aloud and crumbles, calling himself weak.

Ace makes the doomed promise that he will never leave Luffy alone, a vow that the Marineford war later breaks. The chapter explains why both brothers became pirates at seventeen, tied to the rule that noble-born children gain their status at eighteen. It also reveals that Dragon and the Revolutionaries once passed near Shimotsuki Village. Luffy perfects his rubber pistol punch by shattering a boulder, and both brothers leave Goa Kingdom to begin their separate journeys.

The installment marks the formal end of the extended childhood flashback and the return of the present-day storyline. Having lost both his brother and his crew in a single stretch, Luffy for the first time openly judges himself unworthy of ever wearing the Pirate King's title. The cover features Sadi and Domino dining at a fast-food spot while a tuxedoed monkey tries to get their attention.