Cover Page: Cover Page Request: "Black cats and Yamato making deliveries" by PN Kokoro Fukada

Robin, Brook, and the CP0 agents converge with Yamato, Apoo, Drake, and Fuga, and they witness Kanjuro's Kazenbo heading down toward the fortress basement. Yamato enlists Fuga's help to try to stop Kazenbo, while Apoo and Drake team up to fight the CP0 agents.

Meanwhile, Zoro has had no success wounding King and tries hard to figure out the All-Star's nature. Zoro then suddenly hears a shamisen playing nearby, as does Orochi, who enters a room to find what is seemingly Hiyori, dressed as "Komurasaki", playing it.

In his full phoenix form, Marco is now carrying Izou to the top of the castle, though Marco is annoyed that Izou would ask such a thing from him when he himself is rather injured. Izou apologizes and says that the announcement about the "fire yokai" has left him concerned. Elsewhere, the samurai are preventing the Beasts Pirates from escaping, causing them to try and use cannons to blast through.

On the second floor, Fuga continues to chase Yamato, who reveals that he is actually acquainted with him. Scratchmen Apoo continues to try and team up with Yamato, while X Drake tries to stop him. Suddenly, Brook and Robin fall from the hole in the ceiling and land on Fuga's head. The two members of CP0 try to chase after them, but they both get caught by Kanjuro's Kazenbo and become engulfed in flames. Yamato sees that it has the power to move through the walls and quickly realizes it is heading for the armory, which will cause the island to explode in mid-air. With that in mind, he asks Fuga for something, with which the Number happily agrees.

After getting off Fuga's head, Brook and Robin resume running from CP0, who have recovered from their burns. Guernika notices that Apoo is taking pictures them, and the pirate declares that he might share his new story about the World Noble's "lapdogs" running around Onigashima doing deals with Kaidou after losing their "middleman" Doflamingo. Guernika tells Apoo that he should have stayed silent before stabbing him with Shigan and knocking him down. Drake is surprised by this turn of events as the agent informs Drake that CP0 knows of his true allegiance. Drake asks why they are on the island, but Guernika says that "inconvenient truths" are meant to be erased. Just then, Apoo recovers and uses Boom on the agent's face, knocking him back. Apoo gets back up as he reveals he used Armament Haki to protect himself, while also stating that his belief that Drake was secretly a Marine was correct. Drake brushes that off and asks if Apoo will fight CP0 together with him, and he accepts.

Outside the castle, Zoro's fight with King continues. In his full pteranodon form, King grabs his crest and pulls his head back, which also pulls back his beak. In a move called Tempuraudon, he fires his head at Zoro, who could not block it, comparing it to a laser beam. King tells Zoro that that is how pteranodons hunted their prey. Still, Zoro gets back up and fires a Sanbyakurokuju Pound Ho at King, who easily dodges. King starts raining down fire as Zoro tries to dodge, and he asks if pteranodons had fire coming off their backs, to which King straight-up says no, irritating Zoro. Desperate to finish off King before running out of energy, Zoro unleashes Kojuko: O Tatsumaki, which entraps King, but King blocks it with his wings as the twister dissipates.

Zoro tells King that he considers dinosaurs and dragons to be the same: big lizards with thick hides. King tells him that he is not wrong but considers himself on another level. As he changes back to his human form, he brings his sword down on Zoro saying he is giving him a chance, and that he too enjoys a good duel. In his head, Zoro notes how not a single attack has caused King to drop any blood, and while he has movable wings in his human form, he has not seen him use them yet. He also knows now that the fire on his back does not come from his Devil Fruit, and deduces he is from a race he has never encountered before. As he gets overwhelmed and thrown into a rock, Zoro realizes he will never be able to defeat him unless he can figure out what kind of creature he is.

As he lays on the ground breathing heavily, Zoro hears a Shamisen playing which confuses him, and Enma starts drawing out his Haki again. In the Treasure Repository, where Orochi is hiding, he hears the Shamisen too from the next room and follows the sound. When he reaches the room, he sees, to his delight, Kouzuki Hiyori in her "Komurasaki" identity. Believing his beloved oiran has returned to him, he approaches her hoping he isn't dreaming as "Komurasaki" tells him that she wants to spend the rest of her life with him.

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