The Kamaitachi of Rommel

The Corrida Colosseum announcer struggles to understand the impossible ending of D-block. The twenty-odd stalwart fighters who remained were all mysteriously knocked out in a flash, and the announcer calls it a bizarre finish after such a chaotic block. The crowd asks how it turned out this way and wonders whether the one responsible for everything is still in the ring. In the center of the arena, someone is attempting to stand. The audience watches the dust and fallen bodies, asking whether this person will be the winner. A blade plants against the stone with a clear clunk, and every eye turns toward the lone figure rising from the wreckage.

The survivor is Rebecca. She stands in the ruined ring breathing hard, both hands on her sword, her cloak falling around her while the rest of D-block lies scattered across the stone. The announcer and spectators stare in disbelief before the cry spreads: "It was Rebecca who stood up!!" The colosseum erupts into her name, the crowd shouting "Rebecca!" and "Re..." as they realize that the hated granddaughter of King Riku is the one still upright. Rebecca herself looks exhausted and shaken rather than triumphant. She has not emerged as a conquering warrior; she is simply the last person standing after an attack no one fully saw.

The announcer reviews the field and emphasizes how absurd Rebecca's victory looks from the outside. The promising D-block candidates, all treated as potential winners, have failed to stand. The infamous warriors lie beaten, and none of them can rise. Among the fallen are named threats such as Cavendish, Orlumbus, Suleiman, and other dangerous fighters, yet the final contestant moving on in Dressrosa's fighting tournament is, of all people, the prisoner gladiator carrying the sullied blood of the Riku royal family. The page contrasts Rebecca's quiet survival with the unconscious bodies of the famous warriors around her, making her victory feel less like celebration and more like a mystery.

The crowd refuses to accept the result. People shout "Rebecca!!!" while others curse her, asking what she did and demanding an investigation. The reaction spreads beyond the ring to the prisoner gladiator lodgings, where supporters cry that Rebecca did it and admit they do not know what happened, only that she won. Others call it a terrible outcome and ask what happened to Cavendish-sama, while Orlumbus' supporters insist there is no way Commodore Orlumbus could lose to that little girl. Rebecca stands silently amid the wreckage, surrounded by anger, disbelief, and scattered bodies, her victory immediately treated as suspicious rather than earned.

Outside the colosseum, the mystery is given a name: "The Kamaitachi of Rommel." A note explains that kamaitachi are Japanese folklore monsters, weasels with scythes that move too quickly to be seen and deliver cuts as if from a whirlwind. The story recalls the Rommel Kingdom long ago, where during the night a wind would blow through and cut people to shreds. These mysterious incidents continued until even a Marine battleship dispatched to investigate was attacked. The Marines also fell victim to that cutting wind, but in the end the true identity of the wind was one man, known as Hakuba. To this day he has not been caught, and he always appears in towns visited by a certain pirate.

The chapter reveals what happened inside the ring. A pale, wild-eyed version of Cavendish, Hakuba, moves like a nightmare through D-block, chasing Rebecca as she stumbles and tries to run. One fighter yells that she cannot run forever, little girl, but the real threat is the blur of Hakuba's swordwork cutting through the battlefield faster than the eye can follow. Rebecca is terrified, barely keeping her feet while bodies are carved down around her. She sees the attacker coming and can only react by instinct, her expression shifting from fear to shock as the attack closes in.

Hakuba's strange condition becomes clearer. Someone notices that the man has an odd stance, and another realizes that he is asleep. Rebecca sees him, understands something is wrong, and then Hakuba explodes back into motion. He tears through the remaining fighters while still unconscious, his body moving as if driven by another will. The other major contenders register the danger too late: shocked faces flash across the page as Hakuba cuts down combatants in every direction. Rebecca remains in the path of the disaster, not because she can overpower him, but because her trained instincts and fear keep her from being swallowed by the attack immediately.

The ring becomes a storm of bodies and blades. Hakuba races past fighters so quickly that they seem to fall only after he has already moved on. Rebecca, eyes shut and breath slowing, survives by slipping away from the fatal line at the last instant, the small sound of "slow..." emphasizing her trance-like focus. The fighters around her collapse: one body drops flat, another is struck mid-charge, and others are blown aside as Hakuba's sweep continues. Rebecca's survival is not luck in the simple sense. It is the result of the evasive style Soldier-san drilled into her until her body could respond before thought.

Hakuba cuts through D-block in a full spread of violence. The named fighters who had dominated the block are shown in the instant of defeat: Orlumbus, Suleiman, Damask, Mummy, and others are caught in the rush, their weapons and bodies thrown through the smoke. Rebecca is tiny in the middle of the chaos, while the attacker flashes across the arena like the cutting wind of Rommel. The page has almost no dialogue because the movement is the explanation. Everyone falls not in separate duels but in one overwhelming burst, as if the ring itself has been sliced open by an invisible storm.

The aftermath of Hakuba's assault finally catches up with him. He strikes toward Rebecca, but her reflexes and stance carry her away just enough, and his attack passes without taking her down. The momentum throws Hakuba's body through the air, and then Cavendish falls heavily back to the ground, asleep again, while the ring lies full of fallen fighters. Rebecca opens her eyes after the danger passes, exhausted but alive. Cavendish sleeps with a peaceful expression even after the massacre of the block, making the contrast more disturbing: the beautiful pirate's body has just destroyed D-block, but the man lying there appears unaware of what he has done.

Back outside, people explain the contradiction. Cavendish suddenly opens his eyes while sleeping and becomes Hakuba, a completely different man. Hakuba committed crimes and was chased out to sea, but the one who became a pirate was Cavendish. Someone calls him unlucky, while another says pitying him will only trip them up because he enjoys his condition and the fame it brings. The explanation continues: Cavendish is already a prodigy at swordplay, but Hakuba is twice as strong, making his tendency to fall asleep after appearing especially unsuitable for a contest-style match. Rebecca's victory is now understood as survival through Hakuba's attack, not a conventional defeat of the entire block.

The crowd continues to reject Rebecca's win. They shout that Rebecca cannot have won and demand that someone make sure she does not have a gun or some hidden trick. Rebecca stands amid the fallen fighters, silent and bruised, while the announcer declares that the finals have arrived at last. In the shadows, Sabo watches and understands the result more clearly: only Rebecca was able to see through Hakuba's swordplay, and whatever happens, he is not giving up the Mera Mera no Mi. The page closes the D-block outcome by placing Rebecca in the finals, even as the spectators treat her survival as impossible.

The scene shifts to Dressrosa Palace, where Doflamingo laughs and asks King Riku whether he saw what just happened. He says Riku's granddaughter has the devil's luck and admits he never would have thought both Rebecca and Violet would show up in the tournament. But his amusement turns into accusation. He tells King Riku that the actions of his family today have become intolerable, calling out Rebecca and Violet while the former king sits chained before him. Doflamingo mocks the situation, asking whether today is some kind of anniversary, while Riku can only sit bound, furious and powerless, as his family is dragged into Doflamingo's game.

King Riku answers that what he did that morning was more than enough: the report from the Shichibukai resignation matter was false, and for him it was enough to keep fighting for the country and everything it stands for. Doflamingo acknowledges that this may be Riku's reason, but says it is not Viola's. Viola, he says, has a knack for foresight and has made a wager. Doflamingo then turns to the real threat he has been waiting for: Trafalgar Law. With Law bloodied and chained before him, Doflamingo says he expected the new Shichibukai to come oppose him, and that Law has formed a pirate alliance with Monkey D. Luffy to take him down.

Doflamingo explains the board as he sees it. Law is already defeated and, as Doflamingo says, will not be leaving the colosseum as a human. Straw Hat Luffy, meanwhile, is attacking the toy house alone. Doflamingo questions whether Franky can really hope to match his officers there. He lists the remaining Straw Hat pieces: Pirate Hunter Zoro, Kin'emon of the Foxfire, Nico Robin, and Sogeking, just those four. The only routes into the factory are through the toy house and the palace entrance, and he believes that with those routes controlled, the Straw Hats cannot reach the factory or the underground where the real operation must succeed.

Doflamingo is confident that the Straw Hats will not even be able to reach the underground. At the base of the King's Plateau, however, the group is already moving. Luffy's side considers entering the palace so they can proceed to the toy house and the factory, recognizing that the paths are connected inside. The disguise plan becomes absurd but functional: Luffy is hidden in a carp costume, Zoro in a cat, and Kin'emon in a frog. Someone comments that the humans called the Straw Hat crew are exceptions, but that the toys are cool. The costumes are ridiculous, yet they let the group approach the palace route without immediately revealing themselves.

The captain's group begins the S.O.P. strategy from the palace route. Violet tells the others to look up ahead: the lift goes up to the palace, but they need to show the guard riding it an entry permit. Luffy suggests simply kicking him, but the others warn that this would cause a scene and draw more foes. Before they can decide, someone recognizes him and asks, "You're Strawhat Luffy, aren't you?" Violet steps forward and reveals that she has been waiting, declaring that she will let them into the palace. The chapter ends with the route upward opening, not by brute force but through Violet's decision to help them.

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