Nobody Important

Chapter 1024, titled "Nobody Important," begins on the second floor with enemies collapsing under an overwhelming presence. Beast Pirates shout, "Hey!! What's wrong with you guys?!" and ask, "Is this Conqueror's Haki?!" Usopp seizes the misunderstanding and rides the moment, announcing that it is natural for weak-willed men to crumble before him. He boasts, "After all, I took down two of the Flying Six!! They call me Usohachi, the Beast Hunter!!" Enemies panic that two of the Flying Six have fallen and begin surrendering, saying they will join his cause. Nearby, Nami contacts Franky and asks whether he knows what is going on with Luffy. She hears that the fallen enemies are only being knocked out by echoes of Big Mom's Conqueror's Haki from another floor, but Usopp turns the chaos into a morale weapon.

In the right-brain tower, Franky admits he has no idea what is happening with Luffy. He says the last update he got was what Momonosuke said earlier, and Nami guesses Momo is with Shinobu because she cannot get hold of either of them. Franky tries to keep optimism alive, insisting that no news is probably good news. Below them, the fighting continues as enemies try to storm the live floor while allies shout not to let them through. Nami says that if Franky is done upstairs, he should meet them downstairs, but Franky is not sure what is going on because a bunch of enemies keep trying to storm the live floor. He reminds everyone that Zoro and Sanji are busy taking on the All-Stars. The alliance fighters protest that they are supposed to be equals now and cannot just be ordered around, but the emergency is clear: they must protect the live floor while the stars fight.

On the third floor, the flames are out of control. Fighters shout, "This looks bad!!" and "The flames are out of control!! We gotta escape to the live floor!!" Brook carries Robin away from the burning hall, and Robin comments, "It actually feels like I'm burning," while Brook jokes that this technically means he has been cremated, before correcting himself: "No, wait, this doesn't count!!" Someone checks on the "Baron Corpse" and asks whether they are all right. Brook refuses to let Robin burn after her exhausting victory over Black Maria, while Robin, badly worn out, asks how the battle is going. Brook admits he has no clue and says it is total chaos out there. The page follows the aftermath of Robin's fight into a wider evacuation as the castle becomes a spreading firetrap.

The fire spreads across multiple locations. On the Kid Pirates' fourth floor, allies shout, "Jinbe-san!! Jinbe-san!!" and warn that the third floor is erupting into a sea of flames. They urge Jinbe to come while there is still time. On the live floor, someone asks whether the fire has gotten that bad, while Jinbe wonders where Kaido is and whether someone else is keeping him busy. The enemy pours out of the castle, and samurai shout, "Stand your ground!!" as Beast Pirates charge, yelling, "Let us through, samurai scum!! We own the castle... and the live floor!!" The page shows how the fire changes the raid's geography. The upper floors are forcing people downward, and the live floor becomes the pressure point where fleeing enemies, allied defenders, and the commanders' duel all converge.

The battle cuts back to the rooftop, where Yamato and Kaido continue their duel above Onigashima. The skull dome looms in the background while Yamato pants and tells the defenders to force the enemies back. Yamato raises the kanabo and fires "Ringing Arrow!!" at Kaido, sending a sharp shockwave through the air. The attack tears across the rooftop and slams toward Kaido with huge impact lines and explosive force. Kaido watches from the opposite side, recognizing the pressure but not backing down. The page contrasts the chaos inside the castle with the one-on-one duel above it: while everyone below struggles with fire, enemies, and confusion, Yamato is still personally holding Kaido in place.

Kaido answers Yamato's "Ringing Arrow" with a stronger strike of his own. Yamato's attack cuts through the air, but Kaido swings back and launches "Thunderous... Arrow!!" The two shockwaves clash across the rooftop, sending debris and pressure flying between them. Yamato is knocked back and groans, while Kaido remains in his beastly transformed state, watching closely. The page emphasizes that Yamato can meet Kaido's techniques head-on for a moment, but the gap in raw strength is still terrifying. Every exchange shakes the rooftop, and the black lightning-like impact around their blows makes the fight feel less like a family argument and more like a Conqueror's clash.

Kaido advances through the rubble and tells Yamato plainly, "You're trying... to kill me!!" Yamato agrees, and Kaido says this is not a family squabble Yamato should have entered unprepared. Carrying Oden's name is a heavy burden, and Kaido says he is not playing around. Yamato, exhausted and breathing hard, asks what is wrong with admiring Oden and says, "I was captivated by Oden!!" Kaido's expression hardens as the present duel leads into memory. The page makes the emotional core explicit: Yamato's identification with Oden is not childish costume play in the middle of the raid; it is the source of a life-defining conflict with Kaido that began years earlier.

The chapter flashes back to the skull dome after Oden's death, when young Yamato was called the "Oni Princess" and accused of throwing a nonstop tantrum for a week. Yamato, chained and beaten, insists, "My name is Oden!!" and demands to be let out of the chains, shouting, "I'm Oden!! Kozuki Oden!!" Kaido's subordinates lie defeated around the room from the child's violent outburst. Kaido stands over the wreckage and asks, "Yamato... did you... do this?" Yamato keeps panting and repeats "Oden!!" The page shows how early Yamato's rebellion became dangerous: even as a child, Yamato's claim to Oden's name was backed by power strong enough to knock down adults and provoke Kaido's full anger.

Young Yamato sits hungry in a cave, chained and terrified, saying, "I don't know... They all just fell down. I'm going to starve to death. Please feed me." Kaido recognizes the signs and says, "Conqueror's Haki, huh? That's promising... But if you insist on calling yourself Oden, it'd be better... if you did die, Yamato." Yamato screams in shock. Kaido gives a cruel condition: he will leave Yamato in the cave for a month to cool off and reconsider, with wild samurai imprisoned there too. Yamato begs, asking how he can leave a child in a place like this, but Kaido walks away. The page exposes the brutality behind Yamato's childhood: Kaido sees even hunger and imprisonment as training if it will break the Oden identity.

Kaido tells the imprisoned samurai that the same fate goes for the rest of them. He says he would like Wano's great master swordsmen to serve under him, and if they have a change of heart they should shout through the hole in the ceiling. He leaves one portion of food and says he supposes they can leave it there, because they will need to settle who gets it. Young Yamato panics, crying, "Father!! They're definitely going to resent me... for being your child!! I'll be killed!!" Kaido answers coldly, "But I thought you were Oden?" and exits. The page shows Kaido setting up a test meant to make the samurai kill Yamato or make Yamato abandon the Oden identity out of fear.

In the cave, young Yamato stares at the single bowl of rice and says, "I call myself Oden... but I'm also Kaido's son, the man who killed Oden." Yamato assumes the samurai must hate him for that, and that Kaido expects them to kill each other in a scramble for the rice. One samurai reaches toward his sword, and Yamato, terrified, thinks they are bound to kill him first. The tension in the cave is heavy: starving warriors, one child of their enemy, and one bowl of food. The page uses Yamato's fear to make the samurai's next action meaningful. Yamato expects vengeance and violence because that is what Kaido arranged, but the samurai do not choose Kaido's logic.

Instead of killing Yamato, the samurai offer the rice. One says, "Please eat," and when Yamato stares in disbelief, another says that samurai do not get hungry. Yamato cries, "But I'm... starving!!" and one samurai answers gently, "Eat up. You were born into quite the family, weren't you?" Yamato eats the rice with tears and snot running down his face, then holds up the empty bowl and says, "Thank you, samurai!! I'll remember this bowl... for the rest of my life!!" After being fed, Yamato asks whether even someone who gets hungry can become a samurai. The page becomes the emotional heart of the flashback: the samurai respond to Kaido's cruelty with compassion and give Yamato a model of honor that has nothing to do with strength alone.

Young Yamato introduces himself to the samurai with embarrassment: "Huh, how is a disgraced samurai meant to introduce himself? I'm... nobody important... Hehe!" Yamato asks whether the samurai knew Kozuki Oden and whether they were his friends, saying that Kaido captured all of them too. Yamato then shows them a book and says, "I want to read this logbook, but there are lots of big words." One samurai recognizes it immediately: "Is that Oden's navigation log?!" Yamato smiles while the samurai gather around. Later, after days pass, Yamato has been reading Oden's words and says that when the time comes he will fight for Wano, then go out to sea and become much, much stronger. The page shows how Oden's log and the imprisoned samurai give Yamato a future to believe in.

After ten days in the cave, the samurai watch over Yamato and discuss the future battle Oden predicted in twenty years. Yamato asks whether they would really leave Kaido's child to die, but one samurai says that if this keeps up, Yamato will not be going to sea or fighting in the battle that Oden predicted. He decides that twenty years is a little too long for them to wait, but they can still contribute to that future battle by ensuring Yamato's survival. Yamato looks up in shock as the samurai prepare to act. The page reframes their choice as a sacrifice across time: they may not live to see the prophesied dawn, but they can protect the child who might carry their will into it.

The samurai tell Yamato, "That's the spirit. In that case... we can make our contribution to that future battle by ensuring your survival." Yamato realizes what they intend and cries, "Samurai-san! If you do this, my father will--" but the samurai answer that they cannot sit there and starve like stray dogs and that they never had any intention of yielding. They smash out of the cave and charge into the open, while Beast Pirates report to Kaido that the samurai have broken out of Amano-wato. Even young Yamato begins to understand the weight of what they are doing, starting to say, "Even I..." The page shows the samurai choosing death over submission and choosing Yamato's survival as their way to help the future they will never see.

The present rooftop battle returns as Yamato clashes with Kaido in a burst of black lightning. Yamato remembers the people who believed in and accepted him, then demands, "What right did you have... to steal my freedom?! What right did you have... to steal Wano's freedom?!" Kaido answers that there are no easy answers in this world and calls Yamato an immature brat. Their kanabo collide with "Thunder Bagua!!" in a massive impact, the caption calling it "a clash of black lightning." The chapter ends on their locked eyes and the force of the blow. The page ties the flashback directly to Yamato's present rage: this fight is not only about being Oden, but about the freedom Kaido stole from a child, from Wano, and from everyone who trusted Yamato to survive.

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