Chapter 966

Twenty-six years ago, Oden charged the Roger Pirates and overwhelmed several of them before Roger himself intervened, flooring Oden with a single slash that hurled him into a distant tree. As Oden recovered, Whitebeard stepped in and collided with Roger in a clash violent enough to blow everything on the island backward, including the Moby Dick. With both captains locked together, their crews threw themselves into a brawl that raged for three days and three nights.

When the fighting finally ebbed, it gave way to an exchange of gifts. Roger showed Whitebeard and Oden a copy of a Poneglyph, which Oden confirmed he could read. Roger explained that his crew had reached Lodestar Island, the last point a Log Pose could find, yet sensed one final island beyond it that only the Poneglyphs could reveal. He asked to borrow Oden for a year to decipher the road stones, and though Whitebeard furiously refused, Oden chose to go, so his captain reluctantly relented.

The chapter marks the first depiction of Roger's might, showing his command of Armament and Conqueror's Haki, and Shanks's first meeting with Teach, who Buggy claims has never once slept. Izou stayed behind with Whitebeard while Inuarashi and Nekomamushi stowed away after Oden. Crocus warned Roger he had only a year to live. The crew rode the Knock Up Stream to Skypiea, where Roger heard the voices within a Poneglyph and had Oden carve a message marking that he had passed through.