The Levely Begins

Calm returns to the Socializing Plaza once the effort to abduct the mermaid princess ends. Mansherry mends the bruises Shirahoshi suffered, and after Neptune offers his thanks, Mjosgard promises to shield her throughout the entire council. When Pell says sorry to Vivi for having been absent during the trouble and she asks after her father, he explains that Cobra is presently sitting down with Admiral Fujitora alongside Riku Doldo III. The Sorbet Kingdom's dowager queen, going by Connie, walks up to the Celestial Dragon Gate that opens into the Nobles' realm, and while the injured Charlos is brought through, she darts past the guards without being seen. Beyond the gate, Rosward displays Bartholomew Kuma as his hired slave steed, demonstrating that he may abuse the former Warlord however he pleases with no sign of the man weakening.

Aghast at the sight of Kuma, Connie weeps and reverts to her actual identity, Jewelry Bonney, denouncing the Nobles' treatment as unpardonable. Elsewhere, inside a tunnel Morley carved below the domain, Lindbergh and Karasu struggle to keep Sabo calm about Kuma, and Karasu observes that freeing the man would still not bring back who he once was. Lindbergh muses that a monarch reduced to slavery despite his realm's alliance with the government shows a person's power counts for nothing when they cross the self-styled gods, while Sabo insists that any rescue leaves only two paths, triumph or death. Over in Pangaea Castle, the sovereigns assemble to open proceedings, and Ham Burger, appointed this year's chairman, brings the chamber to order.

Mjosgard pledges to safeguard the princess for the duration of the gathering, and Kuma is shown as a rent-a-slave presently held by Saint Rosward, whose return marks his first showing since Sabaody, with Kuma disclosed to have once ruled Sorbet. Bonney enters Mary Geoise by herself under the Connie guise, Cobra sets up a meeting with the Elders, and Sabo's group readies its plan to liberate Kuma. When the meeting begins, Imu, the shadowy person glimpsed a couple of chapters back, settles onto the Empty Throne as the Elders bow and ask him to name the light that must be wiped from history. Left behind are shredded wanted posters of Luffy and Blackbeard along with a photo of Shirahoshi run through by a blade. With this, both the Levely storyline and the larger Whole Cake Island Saga reach their conclusion.