Summary:
When the royal family from Dressrosa and the Kingdom of Prodence sail to Mary Geoise for Levely, they are attacked by pirates, but Koby and Helmeppo save them. Koby becomes nervous when Rebecca shows him a newspaper article about Luffy and remembers his life-changing encounter with the Straw Hat.
The four emperors find out that Luffy has been declared emperor and Shanks reacts positively while the other three react negatively. When the Straw Hats sail to Wano Country, they find that Luffy’s reward has increased to 1.5 billion Beli.
At Marine HQ in New Marineford, Sakazuki inquires about the statuses of the royals heading to Levela. One marine reports that pirates have attacked the Lulusia Kingdom’s ship and kidnapped Princess Komane, angering Sakazuki. The Dressrosa and Kingdom of Prodence ships sail to Levela together, and Rebecca rushes to Riku Doldo III with Leo, Kabu, and Bian, asking her grandfather if he read the article about Luffy. Doldo confirms that they do, and Rebecca’s group expresses their excitement at Luffy’s achievements, but Elizabello II warns them to refrain from expressing such admiration once they enter the realm of world government. Rebecca then goes to show the article to Viola, only to discover that she has also read it.
Meanwhile, a group of pirates that kidnapped Komane spies on the Dressrosa-Prodence group from an underwater submarine and fires a torpedo at it. However, Koby dives underwater and redirects the torpedo, saving the royal family. The royals are still feeling the effects of the explosion and are on guard, but Koby then jumps onto their ship and makes contact with Helmepp, who disables the submarine, taking out the pirates and freeing Komane. The royal family thanks Koby for saving them, and Koby is sheepishly humble in response. As Rebecca approaches him, Koby notices a picture of Luffy on her paper and expresses his surprise to see him. Rebecca lends him a newspaper to read, and Koby quickly tears up as he reads about Luffy’s accomplishments and remembers his life-changing experience as a pirate.
Two years ago, Koby was a slave on the Alvida Pirates ship when Luffy suddenly broke out of a barrel some of the crew planned to drink from. Luffy revealed to Koby that he would become the Pirate King and Koby believed that it would not be possible, but Luffy refused to believe it. Koby took a bit of a dare when he revealed his own dream of joining the Marines, though he was still too afraid of Alvida. However, when Luffy confronted Alvida, Koby plucked up the courage to confront her. A few days later, Koby tried to save Roronoa Zoro in Shells Town, talking about how he wanted to bring justice as a marine. Afterwards, he, Luffy, and Zoro were in a bar when the marines arrived to chase the last two off the island. They wondered if Koby was with them and Luffy was able to goad Koby into punching him, causing the marines to separate them. Koby then asked to join the marines and some of them were hesitant at first, but he was accepted as he and the marines went to thank Luffy and Zoro for their help.
Back in Koba’s presence, he thanks Rebecca for giving him the paper and she asks him if he is friends with Luffy. A worried Koby tries to deny it, but Rebecca sees it and urges him to talk to her and Tontatta about Luffy. On the Thousand Sunny, Luffy cries over his new bounty and tells his crew that it has been reduced to Beli150,000,000. Elsewhere, an enraged Kaido reads the newspaper and wonders why Luffy was in Big Mom’s territory. On Whole Cake Island, Big Mom is incredulous as the story claims that Luffy “won” against her, and on another island, Blackbeard says that it is still too early for Luffy to be considered the Emperor of the Sea. Meanwhile, Shanks sits alone and smiles, saying that maybe the time for him and Luffy to be reunited is coming soon. Back at Sunny Brook, he picks up his reward poster and realizes that Luffy wasn’t wrong; his bounty was actually increased to Beli 1,500,000,000.