Summary:
The people of the Flower Capital receive a secret message from the Kozuki family and are shocked to learn of their return. Meanwhile, Nami and Shinobu spy on government officials and manage to get important information, though they have to flee after being spotted.
In the Udon Prison Mines and Weapons Factory, prisoners are forced to do hard labor in exchange for food. Luffy and Kid compete with each other and do so much work that they receive large piles of kibi dango, but this attracts the wrath of the greedy Governor Dobon. However, when he tries to punish Luffy and Kid by eating them, he is quickly defeated from the inside.
Long summary
In the Flower Capital, people deliver newspapers containing not only stories but also a secret message from the Kozuki family. A few people understand the message and realize that the family has returned. One person decides to join them, and the old man points out that Orochi has taken away the citizens’ access to weapons, but the man is willing to fight with his bare hands if he has to. Elsewhere, Usopp deals with the citizens at his toad stand, and in one building, two government officials discuss a very large order of weapons from a client outside the country of Wano. Nami spies on them from the ceiling as she trains under Shinobu to become a kunoichi, but one of the officials notices her mirror and stabs a blade into the ceiling. Nami and Shinobu are forced to run away from his attacks and Shinobu starts screaming, alerting the officials to the presence of humans. However, the pair manage to escape and Shinobu uses ninjutsu to glide through the air. Nami reveals that she found out when and where the weapons shipment is leaving, and Shinobu admits that she is afraid of sharp objects, much to Nami’s anger. Nami then notices a long line at a soba stand run by Sanji, and is upset that it seems to focus more on attracting women than samurai. However, a man approaches Sanji’s stall, seemingly angry at his presence.
In the prison mines of Udon, prisoners are forced to perform grueling labor and are killed if they are unable to do so. An old man named Hyo only gets one ball of kibi dango for moving five large blocks of rock and is horrified. The prison guard replies that Hyo is retarded due to her age and will die as soon as she attacks the old man. The prisoners are disheartened to see this, but know that if they go against the guards they will be killed. However, Luffy and Eustass Kid move the blocks at a very fast pace; the guards stop counting how many have moved when they get to 500, which shocks them as Luffy and Kid should be weakened by their Seastone bonds. This earns Luffy and Kid heaps of bowls of kibi dango, and the two bicker as they eat, arguing over who moved more blocks.
The guards are wondering how they will manage to break the duo’s spirits when Dobon, the governor, arrives. Dobon demands to know which prisoners cleared out the kibi dango rations, and Luffy and Kid are brought before him. Dobon is angry at the duo for only letting him eat three pieces of kibi dango, and the guards warn Luffy and Kid of the dangers of talking back: first they will lose their arms, then their legs, and then they will be executed. Dobon prepares to be disciplined by placing them in the mouth of the hippo attached to his body via SMILE, but seconds later Dobon and his hippo fall defeated to the ground. Luffy and Kid emerge from the hippo’s mouth and leave and the guard says that they will be executed, but Kid replies that they can’t prove that Dobon was attacked as the prisoners cheer for him and Luffy.