Kuzan, Tenth Captain of the Blackbeard Pirates

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Chapter 1081: Kuzan, Tenth Captain of the Blackbeard Pirates. On Hachinosu, Garp's battleship comes crashing down after his Galaxy Impact has devastated the town below. Pirates shout in panic, "Where will this battleship land?!" and "It's gonna crush us!!" Prince Grus steps in and uses "Clay Ordination!!" to cushion or reshape the impact zone with his clay powers. The opening page establishes that Garp's rescue force has arrived in spectacular fashion and that the pirates of Fullalead are scrambling under the sudden Marine assault.

The pirates reel from Garp's attack, shouting, "I'll never forgive you, you old fossil!!" and "Garp!! That bastard!!" Garp stands over the destruction and warns them, "Listen up, you snot-nosed pirates! If you so much as blink, you'll end up in a world of pain!" He spots Koby and yells, "Damn you, Koby! I'm so glad you weren't murdered!!" Koby answers, "Vice Admiral Garp!!" Garp laughs that Koby does not look too shabby, but also mutters that he has really lost his touch, saying the attack was not nearly enough destruction for him. The page shows Garp's wild affection and terrifying confidence at once.

Koby notices allies aboard the Marine ship and calls, "Is that you, Tashigi-san?!" The others call out to him: "Koby!!" "Captain Koby!!" and "Koby-kun!!" Kujaku comments that Garp-san is being naughty by running wild again, while Prince Grus says he cannot believe Koby is called the future of the Marines. Hibari warns, "Vice Admiral, Koby-senpai ain't safe yet! If he keeps runnin' with that shackle on, he'll wind up dead!" Koby runs while dragging his chain and starts to shout for help, but Hibari abruptly freezes behind him. The rescue turns tense as an unseen ice power enters the battlefield.

Hibari is completely frozen, and Koby and the others cry out, "Hibari-san?!" and "Hibari!!" Koby recognizes the man responsible: "K-Kuzan-san?!" Garp faces him and orders, "Kuzan... you better unfreeze Hibari and get your ass back in uniform." The pirates cheer, "Yeah! It's Aokiji!! Show 'em, Kuzan-chan!!" Kuzan says, "It'd be a bad look if Koby escapes... while Teach is away...!!" He tells Garp that he is as direct as ever and that he has always loved that about him, but he is not going to obey. Kuzan declares, "I've decided to live life on my own terms!!" The page identifies him as "Tenth Captain of the Blackbeard Pirates KUZAN."

The story flashes back. A narration explains that two years ago Akainu and Aokiji fought a fierce duel over the fleet admiral position, and roughly a year later, on a certain island in the New World, Kuzan encountered the Blackbeard Pirates. Several of Teach's men are frozen, and Blackbeard asks, "Why'd ya hafta freeze all my buddies out there?" Kuzan warns him to think twice about using the Quake-Quake powers or he will shatter them. Teach argues that Kuzan should know how his men are and asks if Kuzan really thinks he picked the fight. Kuzan, still bitter from the duel, says he is heartbroken and that Teach's crew is to blame for his foul mood.

The flashback turns into a drinking party. The pirates laugh, "Ze ha ha ha!!" and call Kuzan "one crazy sonuva bitch, Ice Pop." Teach asks what Akainu said after their duel. Kuzan jokes bitterly that when he and Akainu, who came up together, had to kill each other, it made his blood boil, then adds, "That'll be the magma!!" The crew laughs and keeps drinking. Kuzan reveals the cost of the duel: "As you can see, I'm down a leg thanks to him! I have to use my ice to replace it." Someone asks if he tore off Akainu's arm, but Kuzan says no, though Akainu is surely banged up all over. The scene shows Kuzan bonding uneasily with the pirates over booze, wounds, and resentment.

The conversation shifts to the Road Poneglyphs. One pirate asks Kuzan about "the man marked by flames." Burgess repeats, "Marked by flames?" The crew explains that there are four priceless red poneglyphs: Kaido and Big Mom apparently each had one, while the other two are up for grabs, and rumor says the man marked by flames has one of them. They say he sails on a pitch-black ship and that anyone who sails near him is swallowed by giant whirlpools, perhaps caused by a Devil Fruit power. Shiryu suspects the World Government may be involved, calling it a sure way to stop pirates from ever claiming the One Piece. Kuzan says he does not remember seeing any giant red stone at Ohara; what he remembers is a dear friend standing against the Government and the traumatized eyes of a little girl whose fate he forced into motion.

Kuzan overhears the pirates talking about stealing Devil Fruit powers and snaps, "I can hear you, asshole!! I'll send you all back to the Ice Age!!" Teach calms him down, saying his man is just being an idiot and that he was not planning to take Kuzan's fruit. Instead, Teach asks, "How would you like to join our crew?!" His own crew reacts, "Cap'n?! Are you nuts?!" Teach points out that the guardians of justice dumped Kuzan, leaving him out of a job and free to live by a different definition of justice. Kuzan objects that pirates are not just a merry band of chums, but Teach says a couple drinks will not win him over anyway; the Blackbeard Pirates all profit from their own agendas, and that is what makes them pirates. Teach presses Kuzan with the real question: now that he is free, what does he want to do?

Back in the present on Hachinosu, Kuzan and Garp clash. Garp insists, "Let us take Koby... and get your ass back in uniform!" Kuzan's ice attack encases Garp, but Garp breaks free and snarls that Kuzan cannot stop him like that. Garp reminds him that he taught him to live in the now, while Kuzan insists on his chosen path. Pirates and Marines look on as the old teacher and former student collide, and the tension builds around Koby's rescue, Hibari's frozen body, and Kuzan's new loyalty to Teach's crew.

Garp seizes control of the fight. Kuzan unleashes ice, but Garp grabs him and slams him downward with "Blue Hole!!" The impact punches Kuzan into the ground and sends ice and stone breaking apart beneath him. The page emphasizes Garp's raw physical dominance even against a former admiral and current Blackbeard captain. Kuzan's ice cracks under the assault while the surrounding pirates stare in alarm. The clash reinforces that this rescue mission is not merely a raid; it is a personal confrontation between Garp and the former Marine he once trained.

The scene shifts to Winner Island in the New World. The Polar Tang, the Heart Pirates' submarine, lies torn apart and sinking toward the ocean floor. Blackbeard stands over a defeated Trafalgar Law and Bepo, laughing, "Ze ha ha ha!! Without a ship..." He mentions the hundred hearts from Rocky Port still on Pirate Island and says those people would be thrilled if he brought them Law's heart, promising a toast if he does. Law is battered and barely able to move while Bepo desperately tries to protect him. The page reveals that the Heart Pirates have lost their vessel and are at Blackbeard's mercy.

Blackbeard considers what to do with Law's Op-Op Fruit, asking whether he should sell it or use it, then joking, "Don't suppose you'd fancy makin' me immortal?!" Bepo refuses to let him touch the captain and roars, "Off the captain!!" He transforms into a Sulong-like form despite there being no moon, shocking the pirates: "No way! There's no moon!!" and "Did he go Sulong?!" Bepo attacks Blackbeard and creates the opening he needs. The page implies that Chopper's medicine or a special preparation has enabled Bepo's emergency transformation, turning a hopeless defeat into a desperate escape attempt.

Bepo carries Law into the sea as Blackbeard shouts, "Crap! They're escaping by sea!!" Law weakly tells Bepo to go back because they cannot abandon the crew. Bepo refuses, telling his captain to trust them: from the freezing ports of the north until now, they have always survived, and none of the Heart Pirates will let it end here. Law remembers everything they have overcome together. Bepo pleads, "So don't you dare die, Captain!!" The narration closes the battle: "On this day, the Heart Pirates... led by Trafalgar Law... were soundly defeated." The chapter ends with Law and Bepo escaping alive but shattered, while the rest of the crew's fate remains uncertain.

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