Summary:
Sanji and Pudding prepare to infiltrate Cocoa Island, where Oven has placed thousands of his siblings and crew. In the Mirror World, Luffy’s Kenbunshoku Haki has evolved to the point where he is able to anticipate Katakuri’s attacks and exchange blows with him. With an hour left until the scheduled meeting with the crew, Luffy activates the Gear 4 form known as Snakeman.
Luffy and Katakuri continue to fight. Each tries to gain an advantage as they work to overcome the other’s attacks, and Luffy, with his Kenbunshoku Haki at a higher level than ever before, is eventually able to anticipate even Katakuri’s attacks and perfectly match the Sweet Commander’s attacks. Katakuri is able to gain the upper hand briefly by using Kuri Mochi to rapidly fire mochi spikes, but when the two meet again, Luffy remembers his training on Rusukaina. He was having trouble dodging Rayleigh’s Haki swings while blindfolded in order to train his Kenbunshoku Haki, and Rayleigh told him he couldn’t eat until he dodged 100 times. Night fell, and as Luffy lay hungry on the ground, some of the animals he had tamed tried to bring him food, but he refused them. However, he asked them to help train him and brought several other animals to attack him and develop his Haki. Then a giant, enraged lion appeared and Luffy had a hard time dealing with it at first, but he got closer to it and realized that something was hurting him. After the lion collapsed, Luffy found the staff embedded in its body and pulled it out. Rayleigh then returned and continued Luffy’s training and Luffy successfully dodged 100 blows, even the last one when Rayleigh tried to completely hide his presence, which Luffy could sense as he felt his teacher smile.
Back in Katakuri’s presence, he punches Luffy into the ground with a mochi fist, creating several Muso Donuts. Luffy then recalls eating with Rayleigh after completing his Haki training. Rayleigh noticed that Luffy seemed to have the unusual gift of being able to sense the emotions of people and animals. He then told Luffy that several powerful people in the world were advanced enough in Kenbunshoku Haki to be able to see a bit into the future and asked Luffy how he would deal with them. Luffy replied that it would depend on their personalities and Rayleigh was intrigued by the answer as she and Luffy went into the next phase of training. In the present, Luffy can visualize Katakuri’s next move and perfectly avoids the barrage of mochi punches. Katakuri shifts his attack and is able to overpower Luffy, but Luffy comes right back and hits Sweet Commander. Katakuri uses Yaki’s Mochi to fire his Haki strengthened mochi fist and the fist sends Luffy rocketing through one of the Mirro-World formations. However, Luffy gets back up and the two exchange blows over and over again until they are both left gasping for breath. However, when neither of them were defeated, Luffy and Katakuri immediately continue to fight.
Meanwhile, Sanji and Pudding fly to Cacao Island, and Pudding’s sadistic side is strongly conflicted about her closeness to Sanji. Sanji prepares to get to the island and rescue Luffy without being seen, and several of Owen’s brothers and sisters arrive at Cacao Island to join his cause. His army now numbers in the thousands and includes the former Sweet Commander Snack, causing some members to scoff at the excessive power. With less than an hour left in the Straw Hats’ meeting, Katakuri stands over a downed Luffy, and as Luffy rises again, they both anticipate the rapidly approaching end of their fight. Luffy decides to end it by activating a new form Gear 4: Snakeman.
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