Chapter 703

A Donquixote underling explains to Luffy and Franky how a devil fruit regrows elsewhere after its user dies, which is how Doflamingo obtained the reborn Mera Mera no Mi following Ace's death. Luffy declares he wants it and offers it to Franky, who refuses rather than lose his ability to swim. Unable to eat it himself because of his rubber fruit, Luffy simply will not let a stranger claim his brother's power, so the pair set off to enter the colosseum.

Elsewhere, Zoro hunts the thief who took Shusui while Sanji, chasing after him, is captivated by a beautiful dancer. She begs him to hide her from soldiers, and the lovestruck cook obliges. Reaching the colosseum, Luffy and Franky watch a wanted toy soldier escape police by leaping inside, where the law cannot touch him. Luffy then signs up under a false name and faces his first rival in the waiting room.

Exactly as Doflamingo foresaw, Luffy commits to claiming the Mera Mera no Mi rather than let anyone else eat it, and Franky declines the offer to keep swimming. Zoro splits from Sanji, who meets the dancer Violet. She flees the police after stabbing her unfaithful lover and asks Sanji to help her kill a certain man. The toy soldier explains that only Donquixote law operates inside the Corrida Colosseum, barring police and Marines from acting there.

Luffy enters the tournament as "Lucy" on Franky's advice, nearly blurting his real name first. In the contestants' room the gladiators mock the seeming old man, and a huge warrior named Spartan attacks, only for Luffy to dodge and flip him unconscious before the stunned crowd.

The color spread shows several crew members stranded on a wrecked boat among sharks and a giant squid, with a caption nodding to the song "Message in a Bottle". Violet is the dancer Sanji vows to shield, and the man she wants dead is Doflamingo himself. The toy soldier poses and performs to amuse Luffy, explaining that entertaining people is a toy's purpose.