WARNING: The following contains spoilers for One Piece Chapter #1022," by Eiichiro Oda, Stephen Paul and Vanessa Satone, available in English via Manga Plus and Viz Media.
The fight between Black Maria and Robin came to a head, with Robin revealing her newest technique using her Gigante Fluer: Sea Serpent Snapdragon. However, Maria was able to block the attack, knowing that attacking the clone causes Robin harm. She then trapped the giant Robin in her webbing before beginning to pummel it with her knuckle bracers. Robin tried to pull Maria off of her using her duplicate arms, but Maria blocks that as well. She then lights the entire area on fire while verbally mocking Robin yet again. Robin then thinks back to the training that she received from Koala and Sabo, particularly the Fish-Man Karate that Koala taught her. She creates a single, large arm and uses it to palm strike the ceiling, which collapses and actually ends up putting the fire out.
This also created a distraction, as when we next see her, she's now in her demon form. She towers over a horrified Maria, who can do nothing but call her a demon. Robin grapples Maria and snaps her back, finishing off the Tobiroppo member. Further down the hallway, Brook is in the midst of fighting Maria's followers, who finally see their fallen leader. As they look on in abject horror, Brook takes this chance to finish them all off. Once they have been dispatched, he runs to Robin's side, who is now back in her human form, with one of the Mary's looking on unseen. Back at Tokage Port, Caribou has come to Luffy's aid, bringing with him the meat that Luffy so desperately craves. As Luffy regains his strength, Momonosuke and Shinobu are having a private conversation away from the group where Momonosuke insist that Shinobu use the Ripe-Ripe Jutsu to turn Momo into an adult.
In the opening panel, we're told that 30,000 Beast Pirates fought against the raid from 5,400 Samurai-Pirate Alliance members. We're also shown a map of the compound with each of the Tobiroppo's name and location, revealing that five out of six have been officially taken out of battle. We're then told that there's only 15 minutes until Onigashima reaches the Flower Capital. On the third floor of the castle, Fukurokuju and Raizo are facing off against each other in the burning room. Raizo asks Fukurokuju why he aligned himself with Orochi, to which Fukurokuju replies that the shinobi exist to serve the shogun, no matter who it is. Raizo creates clones of himself, but Fukurokuju quickly discerns which is the real on and knocks him to the ground with his Earlobe Crackers. He says that Raizo serves a ghost and was always too emotional to be a shinobi. Raizo counters that it is emotion that makes them who they are.
He continues on, reminding his former comrade that they laughed, cried, and perished together with Kazuki Oden on the day he died. He says that they are ghosts driven to carry out Oden's wish. They chose to follow their emotions and carry out their mission out of free will, even if it means they will die. He then declares that Momonosuke will be the new shogun.
We then cut to the fight between Killer and Hawkins. Killer asks Hawkins how many replacements he has left, to which Hawkins replies barely any and that his outlook looks poor. Killer responds by saying he pities those lives and promptly impales Hawkins with his scythe. Hawkins then says that while there are a few lives left, the real question is whose lives they are. We're then shown that he used one of his dolls to seemingly evade the attack.
Meanwhile, on the second floor, Law and Kid are going head to head against Big Mom. It's then revealed that Hawkins' doll transferred the damage from Killer's attack to Kid, who is confused as to where the stab wounds came from. Killer realizes what Hawkins' cryptic message meant, that the doll represented Kid rather than himself. Hawkins explains that he thought it would be entertaining to watch Killer kill Kid without his knowledge, then decided to tell him to further that entertainment. He then says that killing him means killing Killer's captain at the same time. Killer laughs it off, saying that he likes Hawkins' style.
On the Performance Floor, King and Queen are threatening the former members of his crew, fire blazing around them. Sanji is knocked to the ground. He says that two of them at the same time is too much for him to handle. He calls to Chopper and Dr. Miyagi, saying that if the medicine doesn't work to take Zoro to safety. Chopper asks if it will take much longer for the medicine to take effect, to which Miyagi says that Zoro was already in grave condition to begin with. Chopper cheers Zoro on as the swordsman tries to hang on to life.
Sanji goes back to the fight, kicking Queen in the face. King orders whatever followers remain to find Zoro and kill him. Perospero is irritated because the Beast Pirates kicked up so much dust he can't properly aim his bow at Sanji. He goes on to say that if Sanji had just married Pudding to begin with, he wouldn't have had to pair up with the Beast Pirates under his mother's direction. Just as he's about to let loose an arrow, he's smacked by Nekomamushi from the Guardians as payback for Pedro's death. Unfortunately, this does nothing for Zoro, as the Beast Pirates have found him. King then steps in to finish Zoro off, with Chopper begging to leave him alone and Sanji asking if he has to do everything for "Mosshead."
Suddenly, Marco appears and blocks King's attack, saying he's heard tales about the race of people atop the red wall that could burst into flames. King and Queen realize this means that the Whitebeard Pirates are still alive. Just as Marco gives up and Queen readies a laser attack, Zoro bursts from his bandage cocoon. Marco announces, "It's time for the stars to take the stage." The samurai and pirates cheer on as Zoro emerges. The swordsman then launches a Three Sword Style: Purgatory Oni Giri alongside Sanji's Diable Mouton Mallet. The two exchange an understanding that once the battle is over, they are going to catch a glimpse of Luffy as King of the Pirates.
Chapter #1023 will be released on Sunday, August 29.
