Summary:
Emporio Ivankov shows off some of his powers, including stopping a vengeful pirate’s cannon shot with a blink, then turning him into a woman. Ivankov tells Bon Clay that he saved him because Luffy begged him to, and heals Luffy with his hormone powers, which only work on those with an extraordinary will to live. Unfortunately, the treatment takes 10 years off Luffy’s life, leaves him in excruciating pain, and lasts over two days, with Ace’s execution coming in just 16 hours.
As Ivankov dances and jokes with his followers, Bellett interrupts and declares that his father, once a king, visited the kingdom of Kamabakka one day – and came back as an okama! Because of this, the king’s land and family were destroyed, and his son was reduced from princely status to a mere pirate. He fires his hand cannon in retaliation, but Ivankov uses his Death Wink to deflect the cannonball back at him, then injects the burly man with female hormones, turning him into a hot lady with huge female features. Embarrassed, the intruder flees. After witnessing this “miracle”, Bentham begs Ivankov to save Luffy. Ivankov leads Bentham down an abandoned corridor, saying that the only reason he helped them was because Luffy, writhing in pain, begged them to save his friend earlier. It is treated for 10 hours.
Meanwhile, on level 5, Buggy and Galdino are seen running away from wolves on stilts made of wax. Ivankov and Bentham arrive in front of a door that was chained shut, through which Luffy’s screams of agony can be heard. Ivankov informs Bentham that Luffy has 2 more days of treatment left. Meanwhile, tied up in the chamber, Luffy recalls a memory of himself and Ace as children laughing and talking by the cliff overlooking the ocean. At the end, it is declared that Ace’s execution is only 16 hours away.
As Buggy and Galdino run away from the wolves on stilts, they break the fourth wall and say to the camera, “for those of you born after the 90s, these are traditional bamboo stilts. You have to try this at least once”.
Right before Ivankov injects Luffy with immune system hormones, he tells Luffy in English “Have a nice trip to valley of the shadow of death”, a reference to Coolio’s Gangsta’s Paradise. However, in the English dub, he only says “death valley”.
This episode features Ace and Luffy’s first flashback together when they were growing up in East Blue, however Ace is shown wearing similar clothing to his adult appearance – including a beaded necklace and missing shirt – which could be considered a contradiction. to the manga because Ace only stopped wearing shirts when he joined the Whitebeard Pirates and didn’t get his bead necklace until he married a pirate.