Summary:
A few hours earlier, the Straw Hats and Jinbe are in the Sea Forest discussing their battle plan. Jinbe tells Luffy if he’s going to fight Hody, he can’t do it without thinking. He must do so in order to become a hero to the people of Fish-Man Island. Luffy says he doesn’t like being a hero. Jinbe then embarks on a plan to have him and Megalo caught on purpose to infiltrate the square with Luffy waiting for a signal in Megalo’s stomach. Jinbe adds that she needs the keys to the bonds as well as the letter from the heavenly dragon. Nami volunteers herself and Robin for this job. Jinbe tells Luffy that he needs to make Megalo’s mouth look flashy so that people will immediately know whose side he is on. He then orders everyone else to go to Ryugu’s palace and free their friends, telling them to figure out how to do it. Hatchan agrees to Jinbe’s plan. Luffy tells Jinbe that it throws him off his game if people cheer for him, and Nami remarks that it doesn’t happen very often. Jinbe has to do one last thing before implementing the plan, come up with a name for him, but Sanji tells him it’s pointless.
In the square, Hody gets up after being kicked back by Luffy’s kick. The citizens watching from the periphery acknowledge Luffy as Jinbe had hoped. Zeo tells them not to be cocky just because they took back the king. The Straw Hats talk to each other, discussing the rescue, Hoe, and Franky tells them he’s added two new weapons to the Soldier Dock. They ignore Zeo at all. When Daruma tells Zeo this, Zeo tells him that he said it quietly on purpose. Nami gives Shirahoshi a letter and Luffy tells her that he’s not as weak as he thought. Jinbe praises her for being strong all these years and Shirahoshi apologizes for keeping the secret to herself. Jinbe then tells Shirahoshi to let him protect Otohime’s ideals from now on.
Hody emerges from the dust, calling Vander Decken IX useless and saying he needs Shirahoshi taken care of as soon as possible. He then tells Jinbe that he can’t stand him for being friends with people. Hody goes on to say that at this year’s Levels, he’s going to change everything by turning Mary Geoise into a royal bloodbath. He’ll bring people down to the surface to use as slaves, and then he’ll go after the pirates on the surface as well. He declares that he will be the true Pirate King, which upsets Luffy. He then asks what a mere ten warriors can do against his 100,000 strong army. While the pirates are cheering, Usopp, Chopper, Nami, and Pappag are in Soldier Dock’s Channel 4, getting ready to use a new weapon, and are quite cramped. Franky tells them to wait a little longer while Sanji counts how many people each has to fight. Luffy then steps forward and takes out half of the pirates with a Haoshoku Haki blast. His crew is impressed by his abilities, as is Jinbe. Luffy tells Hody that no matter what kind of king he wants to become, the world only needs one pirate king. He then uses Gear 3rd and takes out a few more pirates. Everyone prepares to join the fight and Franky prepares to reveal a new weapon.