Chapter 644

Dread sweeps the kingdom while residents flee and the sinking ark inches closer. Beyond the city walls, a cackling Hody pursues the captain and the princess, his bulk still swelling. The chase tips him into memory. Long ago in the slum district, a street preacher condemned humanity as a lesser breed, and the boy Hody swallowed every word. Other recollections follow: townsfolk honoring a fish-man who bombed a slave shop, news of Arlong sinking a human crew, and Hatchan speaking warmly of his surface friend Rayleigh, which only sickened the young listener. After Fisher Tiger died, the future officers pulled on masks, marched behind torches, and razed the home of a man who had given blood to a human, choking him in front of his own children.

Grown into a soldier, Hody mocked the throne for yielding. He himself slew Otohime and pinned the killing on a human, then toasted the deed with his officers and produced a stolen source of strength, ordering Zeo to manufacture it in bulk. The flashback closes. Within the air tank, gunners line up their shot and release a bubble that wraps Noah completely.

Fukaboshi names his own guilt, admitting the crown shut the district away, ignored its swelling spite, and let resentment grow past containing. He proclaims that the kingdom's own bitterness murdered Otohime, and he implores Luffy to erase the past and return everything to nothing. Speaking through a baby snail, Luffy tells him to sit back and trust friends with the rest, and the words stop many fleeing citizens in their tracks. Promising to shield Shirahoshi, Luffy coats his fist in Busoshoku Haki, and as Hody lunges he drives the burning Gear Second strike Gomu Gomu no Red Hawk into him, blasting fire out of his enemy's back.

The chapter fills in the New Fish-Man Pirates' origins, confirming Zeo oversaw bulk production of the Energy Steroids. One panel showing hooded fish-men set fire to a neighbor's home as punishment for aiding a human recalls real-world hate-group imagery from the American Civil War era. The protective bubble at last encloses the falling ark. Luffy also names a Gear Second move without the word Jet for the very first time. A younger Shyarly and Ikaros Much's friend Daidalos appear among the children, and Pandaman hides on one page.