Warrior of Liberation

A resounding pulse echoes across Onigashima. Kaido, still on the rooftop after Luffy's apparent defeat, looks up and asks, "What's happening...?" and "How can he still stand?" Luffy's body beats with the rhythm "Doom dut da da" while he laughs and says, "I just lost... But I feel like I'm having a blast... Ahaha hahaha!!" Momonosuke tells Yamato that Zunesha said Luffy is Joyboy, and Yamato reacts in shock: "Zunesha said that?!" The page turns the previous chapter's despair on its head. The man whose voice vanished is moving again, and the sound Zunesha called the Drums of Liberation is coming from Luffy himself.

Across Onigashima, Luffy's revival is felt by his allies. In the Pleasure Hall right brain tower, people yell and someone cries, "Sir Pirate! You're awake!!" Sanji, badly battered but alert, says, "Luffy...?" On the live floor, Kid looks up and asks, "What the--?!" Law, Marco, Hyo, Nami, Tama, and others react as they sense that Straw Hat is still breathing. Nami and Tama weep and shout, "Luffy's still alive?!" and "You've gotta be okay, right?! Big Bro..." The page spreads the news of Luffy's return through the alliance like a heartbeat. His presence has not simply returned on the roof; everyone who had been crushed by the announcement of his death begins to feel hope again.

The scene shifts to the Holy Land Mary Geoise, inside Pangaea Castle's Hall of Power. The Five Elders question whether their priorities are straight after sacrificing one of their best agents and enraging Kaido, but they decide this may be better than the alternative because it was imperative to snuff out something problematic. They explain that, no matter the era, the World Government has always failed to acquire the Gomu-Gomu Fruit, even after 800 years of trying. One elder suggests it is almost as if the fruit itself is evading them. Another says all Zoan fruits have a will of their own and that this one carries the name of a god. They reveal that the Gomu-Gomu Fruit is actually the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Nika.

The Five Elders describe Nika's power as "the most ridiculous power in the world!!" They say its user's body gains the properties of rubber in combat, and that awakening exponentially strengthens that rubbery body and grants even more freedom. Far and wide, they say, Nika was the embodiment of "the warrior of liberation," putting smiles on faces. While the explanation continues, the chapter cuts back to the treasure repository on the second floor, where Orochi calls for Hiyori and begs that it was all Kaido using him. He says he always admired Oden, but Hiyori calmly asks who would still believe him after he spat in the face of a samurai he owed. She says her father kept his promise, did he not?

Hiyori recounts Oden's sacrifice to Orochi. She says Oden danced like a fool for five long years because he believed Orochi and Kaido would honor their secret arrangement and free Wano, yet he never even told his own family. He still expected the same of Orochi when he agreed to let the hostages go. Hiyori says her father was a man who kept his word, even while he withstood being boiled for an entire hour and his body burned by oil. Despite everything, Oden always smiled, but she cannot even fathom the suffering he carried by himself because the entire nation was held hostage. Orochi, cornered and pinned, can only ask what is the matter with Hiyori as she keeps playing and laying out his crimes.

A memory shows Hiyori as a child asking her father whether he is really okay with what everyone says about him. Oden answers, "Of course I am! You know why? Because... I have you guys!!" Hiyori remembers swearing that she would always be there for him, and Orochi tries to twist the story by claiming that as shogun he can ensure Oden's legacy is recognized. Hiyori finally tears away every mask of politeness and declares, "Hold your tongue, you miserable wretch!! I am Kozuki Hiyori!!" Her tears and rage make the reveal absolute. She is not Komurasaki playing a role anymore; she is Oden's daughter confronting the man who used Wano, humiliated her father, and profited from twenty years of suffering.

Hiyori tells Orochi that she was always proud to carry her father's name, even when she was starving and covered in rags, while Orochi never had a trace of honor. She says every day he was shogun was one too many, and that as each day passed, more and more lives were lost. Orochi begs her to stop and says that seeking revenge is dated ideology and that killing him makes no difference because Kaido is still unbeatable. Then the remaining Kazenbo flame appears, answering in Kanjuro's dying voice. Orochi thinks Kanjuro's timing is perfect and laughs that this is the ideal stage for Kanjuro's final performance: "The failed revenge of a shrew, 20 years in the making." He orders the flame to take Hiyori.

Orochi's command backfires. The Kazenbo flame calls for Orochi but moves the wrong way, and Orochi screams as it ignites him instead. Hiyori, standing firm before the burning traitor, says, "The dawn will come... The Kozuki clan... always keeps its promises!!" The rhythm of Luffy's heartbeat returns on the page as the scene shifts back to the roof. Luffy says his heartbeat sounds funny and that he feels like anything is possible now, as if he can keep fighting a bit longer. He identifies the feeling: "This is my peak!! This is... Gear Fifth!!" The page links Hiyori's faith in the dawn with Luffy's awakening, making the political revenge below and the liberation above part of the same turning point.

Onigashima shakes as Luffy's new power erupts from the roof. Kaido and the fighters below notice something impossible above them, and Kaido asks, "What the hell is that?!" as a strange presence looms overhead. Luffy's laughter and movement distort the battlefield, and the roof seems to pulse with cartoonish force. The page builds suspense before showing the full shape of Gear Fifth in action. The people below do not understand what has appeared; they only feel a tremendous force, hear the strange rhythm, and see that the defeated Straw Hat has somehow become the center of a phenomenon strong enough to shake the whole dome and draw Kaido's attention back upward.

Luffy's awakened power surges outward as Conqueror's Haki, knocking out fighters below who ask where it is coming from. Kid, Law, Hyo, Marco, and others recognize that it is Luffy and shout his name in disbelief. Luffy grabs Kaido's dragon body from the roof as if the enormous Emperor were a rope, pulling him upward with a comical "yoink" while Kaido's subordinates cry out, "Kaido-san?!" Then Luffy smashes Kaido through the ceiling and into the floor with ridiculous force. The page shows the first active use of Gear Fifth's freedom: Luffy can stretch, grab, and manhandle a dragon Emperor in a way that breaks the normal scale and tone of the battle.

Kaido crashes into the ground, and Luffy, laughing in Gear Fifth, says, "Straw Hat...!! So you're still alive!!" or rather hears Kaido acknowledge that he is still alive. Luffy answers that he is grateful and apologizes about the idiot from before, saying he did not want to win like that. Kaido fires "Blast Breath!!" in response, but Luffy grabs the ground itself, stretches it like rubber, and pulls it up as a shield. The blast rebounds back into Kaido and slams into him while Luffy laughs "Shishishi!!" The page makes clear that awakening has changed not only Luffy's body but the world around him, letting him turn the rooftop terrain into elastic defense and counterattack.

Kaido is blasted by his own reflected attack and then reels in confusion as Luffy's body snaps back with absurd flexibility. The full figure of Gear Fifth is revealed: Luffy's hair and clothes have transformed, smoke curls around him, and he laughs freely while bouncing across the battlefield. A caption says the battle reaches its finale, and Luffy grins as he says, "Don't sweat it!! Now, let's finish this!!" He also tells Kaido he is sorry about the idiot from before because he did not want to win that way. The chapter ends with "One Piece Ch. 1044 End" and a note that the next issue will have a cover and color spread, leaving the final duel renewed under the title Warrior of Liberation.

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