Robin vs. Black Maria

On the Oni-gashima skull dome roof, the domestic dispute between Kaido and Yamato continues. Kaido identifies Yamato's fruit: "The Makami... Dog-Dog Fruit... is an incredibly valuable... Mythical Zoan!!" He says it was a mistake to let "a wannabe Oden" like Yamato eat it, because "the Makami is Wano's guardian deity." Kaido tries to twist the fruit's meaning into obedience, telling Yamato, "Now it's your job to protect Wano... for me!!" Yamato, in the white beast form, clashes against Kaido's dragon-like power and refuses that role. The page establishes the core conflict of the rooftop exchange: Kaido sees Yamato's power as something that should serve his occupation of Wano, while Yamato sees the same power as a reason to resist him.

Kaido argues that Wano is already a hell made for exploitation. Yamato snaps back, "Like hell it is!" and Kaido says Orochi may have been a tyrant, but he turned the country into "a giant weapons factory!!" Kaido reduces Wano's people to labor, saying Yamato only has to take a rightful place as ruler and claim the fruits of their work. Yamato rejects that future completely: "I'm going to help the samurai and protect this country from you!! No more chains!! This country will open!!" Yamato then launches an icy attack, "Namuji Hyoga!" with the translator note "Divine Glacial Fang." The attack surges toward Kaido like a cold wave, making Yamato's answer physical as well as ideological: Wano is not Kaido's factory, and Yamato will fight to free it.

Kaido answers Yamato's cry to "open the country!!" with "I'm not gonna let that happen!!" and fires "Blast Breath!!" across the rooftop. Yamato's icy attack and Kaido's blast collide in a huge swirling impact above Oni-gashima, the force exploding between them while the mountains and clouds below frame the scale of the clash. After the blast, Yamato crouches and pants, growling through exhaustion, while Kaido remains grim and warns, "Don't push your luck!" The page keeps the rooftop duel locked around Wano's future: Yamato has openly declared the goal of opening the country, and Kaido responds with the full violence of a ruler determined to keep it closed and controlled.

The scene shifts to the third floor great banquet hall. Brook calls from the burning and broken hall, "Robin-san!! Get a hold of yourself!!" and then shouts her name again. Robin sees figures from her past standing before her in the smoke. Her mother Olvia smiles and says, "Come closer, Robin!" Professor Clover calls, "Professor Clover!! It's been a while!!" and Robin recognizes the illusion with a stunned "...!!" The emotional bait is precise: the enemies present the lost people of Ohara as if they have returned to welcome Robin. Brook warns from the side, but for a moment the page isolates Robin with the faces she has carried since childhood.

The illusion deepens as Jaguar D. Saul appears, laughing "Dereshishishi!!" and saying, "I've been looking forward to seeing you!!" Robin asks, "Why're you all here...?" while the images of Saul, Olvia, and Clover answer warmly. Saul says, "Look how big you've grown, Robin!" Olvia says, "I've wanted to see you too!!" and Clover says, "Same here!" Brook senses the trap immediately and warns, "Robin-san!! Don't get any closer!!" But the false reunion is designed around Robin's deepest grief, using the dead of Ohara and Saul's kindness to lure her forward. The page gives Black Maria's trick emotional weight before revealing the machinery behind it.

Robin sees through the trap. She says, "I know, but it's such a shame... Tres-Mano..." and then strikes with "Freesia!!" Giant flower-like hands bloom from the floor and smash through the illusions, revealing the real enemies behind them. The fake Saul, Olvia, and Clover are exposed as Beast Pirates using tricks: the labels identify Tenjo Kudari, a rat snake SMILE; Kunyun of the Numbers; and Nure Onna, a hognose snake SMILE. The defeated enemies cry, "They're not working...!!" and "The illusion...!" as their disguises collapse. Robin is saddened by the cruel use of her memories, but not fooled. The page turns the attempted emotional ambush into Robin's counterattack, proving that grief does not make her helpless.

Brook supports Robin and is furious on her behalf. He says, "You should have given me a sign you were unaffected, Robin-san!! How dare they mess with someone's memories like that!!" One enemy cannot believe it, shouting, "I can't believe Black Maria-sama's illusion didn't work on them!!" Another cries that it is like the place is haunted. The fleeing enemies shout, "They got away!!" but Robin and Brook are already moving through the burning hall. Black Maria appears in her spider form and attacks, making Robin exclaim, "Are you kidding me?!" as the huge spider-woman crashes through the space. The page shifts from illusion to direct combat: the memory trap has failed, so Black Maria uses her full body and strength to dominate the battlefield.

Robin tells Brook that it looks like he was not affected either. Brook explains why the illusion did not sway him: "I was adrift in that mist for 50 years. Of course I dreamt of my friends surviving... It always hurt when I imagined their faces." Robin smiles and says, "We're two peas in a pod!!" Brook answers, "Yohoho! Now we just have to overcome our current ordeal!!" Black Maria attacks with "Furisode Wanyudo!!" as Wanyudo, a human-faced dog weapon, starts fires while spinning. Someone shouts, "Ah!! It's that strange weapon again!!" and Brook notes that the dog keeps starting fires. The page connects Brook's own trauma to Robin's, then immediately returns to the practical threat: the hall is burning and Black Maria's weapon is alive enough to make the fire worse.

Black Maria learns that simple illusions will not break Robin and Brook. She swings down from the ceiling and asks, "So, illusions don't sway you?!" then taunts Robin: "But dreams do, right?! After all, you're deluded enough to think you can win against Kaido-sama!!" Her enormous spider body lands in the burning hall while the Wanyudo weapon and subordinates laugh around her. Brook and Robin watch carefully as the attack pattern changes from deception to mockery and force. The page clarifies Black Maria's next angle: if she cannot trap Robin in memories, she will attack her hope for the alliance and the Straw Hats' dream of toppling Kaido.

Black Maria spins "Spider Net!!" and catches Robin, saying "Much appreciated..." when the web restrains her. Fire spreads across the great banquet hall, and someone warns, "The whole floor is ablaze!!" Black Maria threatens that if Robin keeps this up, she will burn down the entire castle. Robin, hanging in the web, answers that worrying about her enemies is rich coming from Black Maria. Black Maria counters, "If you care so much, surrender and let us catch you, Nico Robin." Brook asks, "Robin-san, can you hold me for a little longer?" and notices, "If that weapon is alive...!!" The page sets up Brook's countermeasure: while Robin is under pressure, Brook identifies that the living fire weapon can be targeted like a soul-bearing enemy.

Brook strikes Wanyudo with "Cold Soul!!" The icy slash cuts through the flaming wheel weapon, and the surrounding enemies cry, "It's freezing!!" and "Gyaaaah!!" Black Maria shouts, "Wanyudo!!" as the weapon is frozen and disabled. With the fire threat checked, Black Maria lunges back at Robin, smashing through the area and snarling, "You don't know when to give up, do you?!" Robin is still battered but holds her ground while Brook's attack changes the battlefield's temperature and momentum. The page gives Brook a clean tactical contribution: he does not take over Robin's duel, but he removes the living weapon that would have burned down the castle around her.

Black Maria tries to break Robin with words next. She says, "Don't you get it, Nico Robin?! You must know deep down, your friends will always sell you out!!" Brook begins "Soul Parade..." and moves through the fight while Black Maria continues, "Blackfoot called you right to me!!" She attacks with "Ice Burn!!" and then insists that big shots from all over the world are after Robin. Black Maria calls Robin "nothing but a burden to your crew" and says that is why it was so easy to lure her here. The attack is both physical and psychological: Black Maria uses Sanji's call for help as proof that Robin's friends endanger her, hoping to turn the Straw Hats' trust into a weakness.

Black Maria brings up Sanji's desperate broadcast, shown again as "Robin-chan!! Save me!!" She says all of Onigashima heard that laughingstock, and that Blackfoot has the crew's second-highest bounty, so the humiliation should tell Robin something. Robin stays calm instead of ashamed. Brook laughs, "Yohohohoho!! Sanji-san truly is extraordinary!!" then asks Robin, "I assume you'd like to take it from here?" Robin smiles and says, "Thanks! I appreciate it!" Brook turns toward Black Maria's followers and declares, "You can leave the rest of these night demons to me!! Even though I'm scared of ghosts!!" The page transforms Black Maria's insult into praise: Brook and Robin understand that Sanji trusted Robin enough to rely on her openly.

Black Maria asks, "Did I strike a nerve?" Robin answers, "Not at all. He's a kind soul." She says Black Maria will never understand just how much it means for Sanji to rely on her, then declares, "He's one of the wings that'll allow the Pirate King to soar!!" Robin spreads her power and summons "Gigante Fleur!!" A gigantic version of Robin's upper body blooms from the floor, ringed by enormous arms and petals of rubble, towering over Black Maria. The page is the emotional and tactical turn of the fight: Robin rejects the idea that Sanji burdened her, affirms his role beside Luffy, and answers with a massive technique that shows she is ready to carry the fight herself.

At Wano's Tokage Port, Luffy is awake and hungry. He demands, "I need more meat..." while the Heart Pirates complain, "You already ate everything we had onboard!!" and "There's no way we're gonna find more out here!!" People are amazed that Luffy was found underwater at all, calling it a miracle. Momonosuke and Shinobu reunite with him after escaping from Kaido using Shinobu's kite. Momo is overwhelmed, saying that Kin'emon and Kiku fell right in front of him, but Luffy cuts through the grief and tells him, "This isn't the time for that! You're in charge!! You can cry when it's over!!" When Momo calls him harsh, Luffy answers with absolute focus: "We've still got to blow Kaido away!!" The page restores Luffy's leadership even from a beach recovery scene.

Luffy declares, "I won't lose this time!!" and nearby people recognize him, asking, "Huh? Isn't that Straw Hat? I thought he was fighting?" Luffy is still fixated on recovery and yells, "I just need more meaaat!!" A hidden observer decides, "Okay, I guess I'll look for some!!" while also thinking that if Luffy cannot pull this off, he will never get to leave this country. Then Luffy turns to Momonosuke with the real plan: "Oh, and Momo... You're gonna take me up there to finish this... I need you to transform into a dragon and fly!" Momo reacts with a horrified "Huh?!" The chapter ends with the caption "A final trip back to Onigashima!!" and "Ch. 1020 / End," setting up Luffy's return to the rooftop by relying on Momonosuke's dragon form.

No description for this page.