Seppuku

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Behind the Reverie, the story moves to the New World, where Nekomamushi's ship approaches a remote island. The minks complain that "navigator skills are crazy" and that Master's face is way scarier than either of theirs. They are waiting for Marco the Phoenix, the man who once sailed with the Pirate King according to one confused guardian, and they wonder how long they must wait in the ruins. The guardians correct each other, snapping that Marco is the man who comes back with Marco the Phoenix and that the villages are not to be wandered into. A sidebar explains Marco's place in history: he was once called the right hand of Whitebeard, the captain of the formidable Whitebeard Pirates, but after Whitebeard's death his crew tried and failed to avenge him against Blackbeard in the Payback War. Since then, the crew scattered and their whereabouts became unknown.

The ship enters a hidden little village beyond the cave behind the waterfall. The guardians are told that this is not the place for a troop of warriors to go trampling about, and one admits that the master's face is only scarier when he is angry. The place itself is quiet, tucked away in the mountains, with small houses and fields visible through the mouth of the cave. One guardian says Marco's smile is cute, and another agrees, "True." Then Marco appears with a pipe in his mouth and the calm, tired presence of a doctor who belongs here. The scene shifts the former Whitebeard commander away from war and piracy and places him in a secluded settlement that depends on him.

Marco finishes treating a large beast and explains that the patient should be all right now, but warns not to push it: "My flame of restoration can't bring about huge changes in other beings." The villagers cheer over Marco's magic, but he corrects them that he has only treated the injury and raised the healing speed a little. The patient should be able to fly around by tomorrow, though Tama is told sharply, "I said tomorrow! Don't fly right now!" Marco is introduced as former Whitebeard Pirates First Squad Captain and ship's doctor. Around him, villagers immediately bring more complaints: bad backs, old knees, and a little brother who keeps bullying someone. Marco smiles and waves, but the page shows he is not living in retirement so much as constant service.

Marco tells Nekomamushi that the village was built by Pops, Whitebeard himself. The country had been too poor to pay the Celestial Offering, so the World Government refused to let it join the alliance. Like most unaffiliated countries, it fell into lawlessness, with pirates and kidnappers running amok and wretched orphans filling the streets. Whitebeard's own family had already died, but this island was his homeland. Even after he went to sea and became a pirate, he worried about it for his whole life, secretly sending "dirty" money and supplies while hiding his identity and status. The page reframes Whitebeard's treasure not as hoarded wealth, but as a lifetime of support quietly sent home.

Marco explains what happened after the Summit War. Since Whitebeard had spent his life protecting this village with whatever mattered to him, the remaining crew decided they would protect it too. They fought a war of repayment against every Blackbeard pirate who came calling, but Blackbeard had taken Whitebeard's power for himself, and they could not teach that thankless upstart a lesson. Nekomamushi realizes the village is Whitebeard's last memento, and Marco confirms that Red-Hair Shanks built a tomb nearby. Marco says Pops was stingy as hell, not because he was selfish, but because every last penny he had went to this place. He laughs through emotion: Whitebeard drank other people's drinks and never treated them to food even once, and all of them knew why.

Marco then brings up the current threat: the Shichibukai Edward Weevil, who claims to be Whitebeard's son and goes after anyone related to Whitebeard. Marco says he cannot speak about Pops and Weevil's mother, Miss Bakkin, because he only heard that she sailed on the same pirate ship with Whitebeard roughly thirty years ago, or closer to forty. He doubts Weevil would believe the village does not exist if they denied it, and he expects they will eventually come after him here. Nekomamushi understands why Marco cannot leave. They agree that if Nekomamushi is going to meet Straw Hat Luffy in Wano now, Marco needs him to send a message instead. Marco stays to protect Whitebeard's homeland.

The chapter finally enters Wano Country. A vast castle rises over an ornate city of curved roofs, bridges, towers, and drifting petals, with music and performance sounds carrying through the streets. The layout is grand and theatrical, all layered buildings and stylized clouds, announcing a new setting rather than simply changing location. The panels linger on shamisen strings, movement behind screens, and the city unfolding below, so the reader arrives in Wano through sound, architecture, and ceremony before meeting the disguised Straw Hats. It is a dramatic shift from the quiet village Marco protects: Wano is beautiful, dense, controlled, and already carrying the weight of hidden performance.

In Wano, Franky has become a carpenter named Franosuke and works under a foreman who does not understand his complaint. The foreman asks, "Oi oi oi! Newbie! Were ye the one that worked on this here part?!" and Franky answers, "Yes, boss! Any problems?!" When the foreman scolds him, Franky fires back, "The hell ye mean, ye dolt?! It's bloody perfect, man! I'm tryin' te praise ye, ye big lunk!" The exchange is loud, rough, and comic, ending with Franky upside down and shouting, "Thank ye kindly, ya old geezer!" while the foreman answers that of course he respects it. Franky's disguise has placed him inside Wano's labor world, but his temperament remains unmistakably Franky.

Elsewhere in Wano, Usopp has become a toad oil salesman named Usohachi. He performs with exaggerated confidence, slicing paper again and again while calling, "Friends! Witness! The edge on this blade is fearsome!" He cuts one sheet into two, two into four, and continues until the pieces fall like snow. Then he brushes the blade against his skin and declares, "See! No blood! Not a drop!" even as the crowd shrieks, "Kyaaah!" and he explains that he applies "but a dab of toad oil" to the wound. The crowd is hooked immediately: one customer says he will buy the toad oil, another says he will take one too, and Usopp grins that they all have quite the eye. His cover is built on theater, lies, and salesmanship.

Robin has taken on the role of a geisha named O-Robi. She dances with elegance while music surrounds her, and the audience responds immediately: "Yes!" and "That's it!" Her instructor announces that the shogun will summon her from his chambers in such a short time, proving her infiltration is succeeding. Robin bows and answers, "Yes," while others fuss over her performance, telling her to drop her hips and saying her hand is too low. The teacher snaps, "You're crazy! Keep it together!" but the point is clear: Robin has entered the world closest to the shogun through performance, grace, and patience. Unlike Franky and Usopp's loud disguises, hers depends on restraint.

Inside a hidden room, Kin'emon briefs the Straw Hats and their allies on Wano. He tells them the shogun's name is Kurozumi Orochi and that all of Orochi's officials and underlings stink of Kaido. Until their comrades arrive and the preparations are complete, they cannot allow themselves to be discovered. First, they must quietly become citizens of the land. Kin'emon warns that if they lay a hand on the wrong people, Kaido will find out fast. The page then shows why caution is difficult: rumors spread that the magistrate has finally caught the killer, after three victims this month alone, and that the killer will now commit seppuku. The mission is secrecy, but Wano is already pulling them into public violence.

Zoro, now under the name Zorojuro, sits accused in a formal execution setting while the magistrate condemns him. The magistrate says they knew him as a killer and a grave robber, and that peace will return to the streets with his death. Twenty-three years earlier, amid the confusion of the pirate incident, two things disappeared: the body of the legendary master swordsman Ryuma and his famed sword, Shusui. The accusation is clear: Zoro is being tied to Wano's most sacred stolen relic. Zoro sits silently with a seppuku knife before him, his expression flat and dangerous. The page places him at the center of Wano's history before he has even begun to move.

The magistrate presses Zoro to die honorably, telling him the truth has been told and that Shusui now rests in the magistrate's hands. He notes that the seppuku knife is short and has no guard, but says it should suffice because Zoro will not be fighting anyway. He asks whether Zoro even knows the proper method of committing seppuku and declares that if Zoro has even the barest shred of honor, he should admit his sins and lead himself from this world. The magistrate promises to behead him afterward to spare him unneeded misery. Zoro agrees with a simple "Fine," takes the knife, and prepares himself as the official smirks that the true worth of a warrior's life is found in its last minutes.

At the last instant, Zoro smells blood. He stops and says, "I smell blood... you... you're the actual killer, aren't ya?" The magistrate's guilt is exposed, and Zoro turns the tiny seppuku blade into a weapon. In one explosive motion, he cuts through the room and sends the officials flying, shocking everyone who cries, "Whaaaa--?!" and "With that tiny knife?!" The Wano arc begins in chaos as Zoro stands amid the wreckage and apologizes: "Forgive me, Kin'emon!" He has already broken the undercover plan. The page ends with Zoro framed as both criminal and swordsman, refusing the false death assigned to him and cutting open Wano's corruption instead.

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