Parting

The Emperor pummels Big Father, brushing aside Chiffon's plea to spare her family because catching Lola's likeness in her daughter's face only stokes her wrath, and she notes that Chiffon too is complicit in the plot. Her crew lingers outside, poised to make a spectacle of the alliance the instant Bege falls. Within the castle, Bege shudders under strikes that drive clean through plating meant to repel cannon fire. Luffy itches to charge out, yet Nami orders Chopper to restrain him, reminding the captain that their objective is already accomplished and a route to Wano is what now matters.

Worried for Bege, the captain hears him lay out a desperate scheme: he will drop the fortress, let Caesar slip free of his body, and rely on the scientist to airlift him beyond the wedding grounds. Caesar rejects it as plain suicide, given the swarm of armed Haki users who could gun him down. Elsewhere Judge asks why Sanji bothered to save them, and Sanji answers that Zeff would be heartbroken to watch him cling to a childhood grudge and gloat over kin dying. Unwilling to live unable to face his own father, he declares the Vinsmoke who fled Germa dead thirteen years past and orders Judge never to appear before him again, a demand Judge grants while swearing off the East Blue.

After Sanji disowns Judge yet again, Judge vows not to interfere in his life nor approach the East Blue. It is revealed that Judge and Caesar share a history. Bege shuts off his Big Father form. By squeezing Caesar's heart, Bege forces him to act, and the scientist bursts out alongside the Vinsmokes while Bege reverts to human shape. The crew opens fire, the Vinsmokes block the bullets, and the Emperor hurls Prometheus, whose blast catches Reiju. As Big Mom moves to strike Reiju first, Luffy and Sanji erupt from Bege's body to meet her fist, while their horrified crewmates watch the duo square up against a member of the Four Emperors.

This chapter belongs to the Whole Cake Island Arc. The cover advances the ongoing Grand Fleet side-serial with a Bartolomeo entry, in which Barto levels a town and forces a rival gang to yield once its leader goes down. The Vinsmoke Family ventures out specifically to clear their debt to Sanji, placing themselves between the fleeing allies and the Emperor.