Chapter 996

Inside the forehead washroom, Ulti and Page One are still reeling when Tama scoops up Nami and Usopp and bolts. Tama recounts stowing away aboard an enemy vessel to reach the island, and the baboon Hihimaru bursts in to stall the two Tobiroppo for three minutes; when Nami frets he cannot last, Tama insists his power should not be dismissed. Inside the central tower of the right brain, Yamato keeps hurling back Sasaki's Armored Division while covering Momonosuke and Shinobu, brushing off Shinobu's plea to be left behind because Oden would never abandon anyone. As Sasaki jeers at him for shielding useless baggage, Yamato's fangs begin to lengthen.

The clash is cut short when Franky charges in with Hatcha at his heels, and Hatcha's swung club punches a gap clean through the floor. Recalling there is a level below, Yamato seizes the boy and Shinobu and drops through. Franky, whom Luffy tasked with the pair's protection, agrees to hold off Sasaki. In gratitude, Yamato fires a technique called Narikabura, a bolt of Armament Haki that cracks into Hatcha's head and fells him, then tells Momonosuke he must survive because he is the one meant to guide the world into its dawn.

Two floors down in the second basement, Law cuts through guards and reaches a Poneglyph, turning over Rosinante's words about the letter D and those branded foes of the gods, along with the day he told Robin his true name. He concludes that unraveling the Will of D means tracing the Road Poneglyphs, but the stone before him is not the red one, so he moves on. One level higher, Eustass Kid draws metal to himself with his fruit and asks whether they have hoarded enough; Killer replies that when the target is the world's mightiest pirate, there is no such thing as too much, which delights Kid.

On the summit Kaidou steadily gains the upper hand over the Red Scabbards, and Big Mom sweeps back into the dome announcing she intends only to join him up top. The trio of Luffy, Sanji, and Jinbe climb to the castle's second level, where Jinbe places the roof beyond the fifth floor, just as Sanji catches a faint, alluring voice drifting up from the third. The chapter establishes that Yamato commands Armament Haki and knows of the Dawn of the World concept, and hints at a transformation through his sharpening teeth. Its cover shows Blackbeard and a hippo cleaning their teeth side by side.