Chapter 949

Luffy's group, joined by Hyogoro, Raizo, Kikunojo, and Kawamatsu, batters the Beasts Pirates, who cannot land an Excite Bullet on them. So Daifugo shoots the prisoners instead, spreading a touch-borne sickness that brings fever and agonizing hemorrhaging, named Mummy. Surrounded by the infected, who keep attacking on Babanuki's orders to avoid being branded traitors, Luffy stuns everyone by throwing his arms around the whole group and letting the virus pass into him, declaring it does nothing to him.

He reminds the prisoners they were never living, only slaving for kibi dango, and recalls his promise to Tama to make Wano a land without hunger. With Oden gone, he insists his movement is the country's last hope and demands they choose his side or Kaido's. Moved, the prisoners turn, and after Babanuki readies a far deadlier Excite Shell, Luffy ties up the elephant's trunk so the shell detonates inside its handler instead.

Raizo hands Kid and Killer the keys to their cuffs. Daifugo infects prisoners with Queen's Mummy virus. Luffy persuades the inmates to rebel, infecting himself by embracing them yet claiming immunity. He defeats Babanuki by sealing the Excite Shell inside him, and the prisoners overwhelm Daifugo as the alliance takes Udon without any outside enemy noticing. A counter marks eight days until the decisive clash with Kaido.

The color spread shows the Straw Hats swimming in a pool alongside a gorilla. The Excite Shell is identified as carrying roughly two hundred times the virus load of a single bullet, which is why Luffy's vision of a dangerous future drives him to bind the elephant's trunk before it can sneeze the shell into the crowd.