Cover Page: The Stories of the Self-Proclaimed Straw Hat Grand Fleet Vol. 26: Leo Arc - "We've been assigned as escorts for the Levely"

Riku Doldo III assigns Leo, Bian, and Kabu as escorts for the Levely.

As the Fire Tank Pirates draw closer to Liqueur Island, Chiffon tells them to go to Funwari Island instead to get Big Mom further away from the Straw Hats. While the Thousand Sunny dodges flying slashes from an enlarged Smoothie, Sanji and Pudding ride Rabiyan to Cacao Island to help save Luffy. However, Oven has amassed a large force consisting of his siblings and crewmates to lie in wait for the Straw Hats on Cacao Island. In the Mirro-World, Luffy's Observation Haki finally begins to match Katakuri's, allowing him to fight the Sweet Commander more evenly. With less than an hour left before his arranged time to meet with his crew, Luffy prepares to end the fight by activating another form of Gear 4 known as Snakeman.

During Luffy's training, Silvers Rayleigh mentions that every enemy attack has an intent and motive. Luffy smells Rayleigh's food in the distance and is able to pinpoint its location. Luffy strikes the pot, angering Rayleigh and causing him to strike Luffy. He says that he can sense emotions like anger, and Rayleigh continues striking him in an attempt for Luffy to learn how to use Observation Haki. Later on as Luffy lies on the ground hungry, several of the animals on the island hear Luffy's stomach growling and approach him with some food to give, but Luffy refuses the offerings. Some time later, Rayleigh continues to instruct Luffy about Observation Haki and how it can be used to sense other people's movement as well as to see glimpses into the future. When Luffy asked about people's personalities as well, Rayleigh admits that he never considered that aspect and tells Luffy that he will do his best to make Luffy capable of achieving his full potential.

In the present, Luffy can read the flow of Katakuri's incoming attacks and is able to dodge them. As Luffy charges at Katakuri, the latter is able to land a blow on Luffy, who then blocks the other punches, despite injuring his hands. Both then land significant blows on the other. Luffy gets blown backwards when Katakuri launches his right arm at him. As Katakuri reforms his arm, Luffy suddenly charges him and decks him across the face. They continue to trade devastating blows to each other.

Now with the cake aboard the Nostra Castello, Capone Bege is confident that the Big Mom Pirates following them will not be able to attack them recklessly. As they approach Liqueur Island, he praises his crew with repairing the burnt paddles caused by Oven. Vito notes that while Prometheus is still following them, it has grown sluggish due to its now gargantuan size. Both Vito and Bege propose dropping the cake off at the island, but Chiffon notes that it is not far enough from Cacao Island and they will need to go to Funwari Island located farther out. She rationalizes that if the cake dropped at Liqueur Island, Big Mom will still have enough time to catch up with Nami and the Straw Hats.

Aboard the Thousand Sunny, Nami and Brook see another attack is coming from behind and orders Jinbe to swerve to the left, avoiding an air slash from Smoothie. Jinbe tells Nami that he trusts in her navigational skills and she then takes command of the ship. Brook is amazed to see how big Smoothie has become, wondering if she is a giant. Aboard Smoothie's ship, Citron and Cinnamon beg Smoothie to not grow larger in fear of her size damaging their own ship. Smoothie curses Jinbe for steering away and avoiding every single ranged attack from her. Elsewhere, Sanji and Pudding ride on Rabiyan heading for Cacao Island. Sanji thanks Pudding for helping him and the others make the cake, causing Pudding to become extremely flustered. On Cacao Island, many of the Charlotte siblings join Oven to intercept the Straw Hats when they arrive, including the Charlotte Decuplets and the former Sweet Commander Snack.

Back in the Mirro-World, Katakuri roars at Luffy if he is finished fighting him. Luffy stand back up on shaky legs once again and activates an unseen form of Gear 4 known as 'Snakeman'.

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