To Russian With Love

Carrying a sulking, flirtatious Mansherry on his back, Leo grumbles about her moods while Kabu prods the dense captain to stop wasting time. Behind them, Giolla comes to and rushes to warn Doflamingo that the princess has been taken, knowing his plan relied on her ability to rebuild the SMILE factory at the price of someone's lifespan should the building fall. Too injured to budge, she instead begs Senor Pink to defend the factory no matter what. Out front, Franky and Pink keep hammering each other, both at the edge of collapse after taking dozens of the other's strikes. Franky declares he will eat every blow head-on and still come out on top in his own strong style, refusing to see the dwarves dragged back into slavery. Moved by the resolve, Pink resolves to end things with one last attack.

A second property of Mansherry's fruit comes to light: beyond healing the living, it can also restore lifeless objects, though doing so eats away at the user's own years. That is exactly why Doflamingo intended to lean on the factory contingency. The fight also confirms that even after rebuilding his entire body as a cyborg, Franky's back remains his single vulnerable point. Pink exploits it with a crushing Baby Buster that drives Franky into the earth, yet Franky climbs back up and answers with a brutal Franky Iron Boxing, taking the officer down. Pink keeps his word and concedes defeat, and his past spills out: a wife called Russian, a son named Gimlet, the banker lie that destroyed his family, and the infant bonnet he began wearing because it was the one thing that could still coax a smile from his broken wife.

The cover offers a color spread of the Straw Hats touring on motorcycles, glancing back at the Born To Be Wild lyric and slipping in a hidden reference to the Sunny. The chapter's name riffs on the James Bond picture From Russia with Love. Having grown to respect his rival, Franky gently brushes the tears off Pink's face and tells him that if their paths ever cross again, the two should share a drink. The info box declares Franky the victor at the SMILE Factory.