Summary:
At Marine HQ, Sengoku and Tsuru talk about the threat the Cross Guild poses to their forces while it remains active. At the Cross Guild location, Buggy angers Crocodile and Mihawk after their subordinates design their flagship puppet after Buggy. During their meeting, things get worse when Buggy foolishly announces his plans for their group to go after One Piece. Meanwhile, Sabo is revealed to be living with several residents from the kingdom of Lulusia, and decides to privately tell Dragon and Ivankov what really happened in Mary Geoise.
Word of Vice Admiral T Bone’s death begins to spread rapidly around the world. Sengoku asks Tsuru if the culprit has been found. However, she replies that the culprit has not been found, although she is sure that the family of the culprit will be provided financially afterwards. Sengoku doesn’t believe that the people they swore to protect are betraying the Marines, but Tsuru finds it really believable, especially since T-Bone was killed in the Kingdom of Pepe, which is said to starve over a thousand people a year. Of course, he’s not defending the culprit, he’s just saying that if that’s what Buggy meant, then maybe they underestimated him all along. Sengoku says that means they have to crush Guild Cross soon or the marines will be very weak morally. Sengoku asks Hina where Garp is because she wants him to try a new flavor of rice crackers, but she tells him that he told her he went to “save Koby”, meaning he was with SWORD on Hachinosu, along with Kujaku, a lot . to Sengoku and Tsuru’s surprise and annoyance.
On the island of Karai Bari, the man responsible for T-Bone’s death meets with Buggy, where he reveals that his people have received payment for his reward. Buggy praises him for his actions, even if it means the Marines will be looking for him, but the man says he’s fine as long as his family survives. This leads to Buggy telling the man that he will accept him as his crew, just as he is told that the Cross Guild ship is ready. Much to his chagrin, Buggy’s overzealous followers make him the ship’s mast, which greatly enrages Crocodile and Dracula Mihawk.
Afterwards, Crocodile and Mihawk punish Buggy by beating him up and hanging him from a hook while they discuss the success the Cross Guild is getting. However, in order to establish their utopia, they need money and power. Buggy speaks up and tells the two that they are going in the wrong direction in their plan. Crocodile and Mihawk were surprised that Buggy would dare to speak against them.
Buggy tells the two that due to circumstances, neither he nor Shanks could go to the Laugh Tale. He admits that at the time he felt he could never match Shanks, but was surprised to learn that he decided not to go to Laughter after Roger’s execution. Buggy now knows that Shanks is finally making his move and in some way shape or form the two are on the same level. As such, Buggy rekindles his dream of becoming a pirate king and suggests that they all search for the ultimate treasure in addition to their coveted dream.
Alligator and Mihawk are unmoved by Buggy’s words, refusing to believe that they would just take him to the top, including their disinterest in fighting Shanks, Blackbeard, and Luffy, especially when he doesn’t have a plan of his own. However, Buggy says that they just need to scramble for the treasure, and is willing to prove it by contacting his entire crew via Den Den Mushi and announcing that they will be moving to retrieve the One Piece. This ends up lighting a fire in several of the crew as they all went to sea for this very reason, though Crocodile and Mihawk are furious that Buggy would pull such a stunt.
On Momoiro Island, Revolutionary Army vice-captains Ushiano (Morley’s subordinate), Ahiru (Belo Betty’s subordinate), Gambo (Lindbergh’s subordinate), and Jiron (Karasu’s subordinate) spot a ship in the distance and begin placing bets on who is on it. To the Revolutionary Army’s relief, the person on the ship is Sabo, alive and well and carrying refugees from the kingdom of Lulusia. Koala begins to attack Sabo for going radio silent for so long, but he tells her that he had no choice because he couldn’t get his hands on the Den Mushi cipher, so any calls he made would be monitored. He sent an indirect signal to let them know he was fine, and as it turned out, he wasn’t even on Lulusia when it was completely destroyed. Belo Betty remembers most of the people from Lulusia and learns that they want to join the revolutionary army, though she tells them all to get some sleep first.
Later, Monkey D. Dragon, Emporio Ivankov, and Sabo all sit together, where Sabo learns about Bartholomew Kum, who Dragon believes had a standby installed to ensure his return to Mary Geoise. Ivankov deduces that Sabo doesn’t want the other commanders to hear what he has to say. Sabo confirms this and tells everyone what really happened in Levely.