Chapter 731

Bartolomeo shields a badly hurt Bellamy behind a barrier, repelling Dellinger until new orders pull the assassin away to guard the SMILE factory, though he vows to settle matters with both later. Puzzled at why a stranger would defend him, Bellamy hears Bartolomeo say that anyone he fights beside he counts a friend. At the flower field, Thunder Soldier briefs the gathering on Operation SOP, describing the hidden underground network, the captive Tontatta laborers, the toy slaves, and the tunnel the resistance has been digging.

The plan hinges on defeating a single agent of Doflamingo, the little girl Sugar, whose Hobi Hobi power converts people into toys and erases all memory of them. Her fruit halts her aging and Trebol himself stands as her bodyguard at the underground port. Hearing the target is a child, Usopp brightens, and a fired-up Franky asks the dwarves to lead him to the tunnel. Inside the colosseum Luffy, hunting for an exit, stumbles onto Bartolomeo and Bellamy; learning his crew is in peril, he gives up the Mera Mera no Mi, and Bartolomeo pledges to win the fruit and hand it over.

A stranger then declares the flame fruit will not go to Straw Hat Luffy, shoving Bartolomeo aside as Luffy stares in tears. Outside, Zoro and Kin'emon disguise the trio as animal toys to slip past the Marines. In an alley, Koala, now a Revolutionary Army member and Fish-Man Karate instructor, speaks by snail with that same stranger, who wears the Lucy outfit and means to reclaim Ace's fruit. A flashback to Ace's grave confirms the man is Sabo.

This chapter closes out Caribou's cover story. Sugar is unveiled as the toy-maker whose body stopped growing after eating her fruit, guarded by Trebol. Bartolomeo admits he entered the tournament solely to return the Mera Mera no Mi to Luffy. Koala returns as a Revolutionary who knows Robin, and Sabo takes Luffy's place as Lucy for the tournament's final round.