One Piece Chapter 652: Grim Premonitions

Inside Ryugu Palace, Neptune asks Jinbe directly about the Sun Pirates: "So let me ask you, Jinbe... How are the Sun Pirates getting on... as part of Big Mom's fleet?" Neptune admits he would never have expected a man of Jinbe's calibre to serve under another master after Fisher Tiger. Jinbe explains that Aladine remains the most reasonable person to work with and lets the crew keep their freedoms. He has no grand aspiration toward absolute leadership; in the New World, affiliating oneself with one of the Four Emperors is simply the most sensible way to ensure one's comrades' safety. Neptune says that, thanks to Jinbe's connection, the island could obtain protection under Big Mom's name and remain safe even after Whitebeard's death.

Jinbe calls Big Mom's protection "a coincidence, nothing more," and says he would prefer to remain with his crew and protect the island themselves, but with bounties on their heads that is impractical. Then he reveals his intention: "However, Your Majesty... I am now planning to leave that protection behind...!!" Neptune immediately understands the implication and asks whether Jinbe means to accept Luffy's invitation. It is tempting, but Neptune warns that his world is one of duty and honour, where some bonds are not written contracts but spoken vows and shared cups. Severing such a bond is not always simple, and Neptune cannot deny that doing so may turn Big Mom's wrath against Fishman Island.

Neptune tells Jinbe, "You always try to take too much responsibility upon your own shoulders." If trouble arises, the royal family will seek a solution themselves. Besides, if Fishman Island ever loses Big Mom's flag, Neptune already has another one in mind: "The Jolly Roger that wears a Straw Hat!!" He laughs and says it would be "a fine flag to fly." Only today, the land came into possession of a seventy-thousand-man force of powerful, if rowdy, fighters from the Fishman District. Jinbe laughs with him, but the conversation makes the shift clear: Fishman Island may someday move from the protection of Big Mom's flag to Luffy's Straw Hat flag.

The Minister of the Right bursts in with a separate crisis: "Your Majesty!!" He has remembered something terrible about the treasure that was stolen and about Neptune's promise to give all of it to Luffy and his friends. If they recover it, Neptune must instruct them to return the Tamatebako alone. Neptune protests that the promise has already been made and he cannot demand the treasure's return. Then the minister explains why this one box is different. After the contents of the Tamatebako were stolen ten years ago, he put a measure in place so no future treasure thieves could get away unharmed: "The box will explode if opened?!" The Tamatebako is not merely a treasure chest; it has been rigged with explosives.

The Minister of the Right explains the trap in detail. "The box is filled with powerful explosives... which will activate as soon as the box is opened..." As custodian of the keys to the palace treasures and the Tamatebako, he humbly apologizes for the oversight. Neptune orders that if Luffy and his crew recover the treasure, the minister must carefully explain the situation and recover the Tamatebako. The concern is real: if anyone opens it before the warning reaches them, the explosion could be catastrophic. A moment later, the minister reports that Luffy and his crew have returned to the palace, and everyone briefly feels relief: "Thank goodness they are unharmed! So our worries were for naught..."

The relief breaks at once. Neptune, the ministers, and Nami react in horror when they learn the truth: "You gave all the treasure... to Big Mom?!!" The court screams, "With a Yonkou?!!" Luffy explains his reasoning bluntly. Big Mom was going to destroy Fishman Island just because there were no sweets left, and he has no regrets about picking a fight over that: "I mean, if it was meat, then okay, but over sweets?! Anyway, don't worry!! I've gone and picked a fight with her now!!!" Neptune sweats and admits that this could be an issue, while Shirahoshi innocently praises him: "Oh, my! You certainly are a strong man, Luffy-sama!" Nami cuts through the heroic framing: "That's not the issue here!!"

The palace reels from the consequences. Someone cries, "Like hell we would!! She's a Yonkou!! She could wipe us out in seconds!!" Jinbe tells Luffy to ensure his crew does nothing to provoke Big Mom further for the time being. Worse, Jinbe fears an even bigger problem: before severing his own ties with Big Mom, he now feels obliged to do it quickly before things become awkward. The Minister of the Right stammers that the situation is problematic because if the Tamatebako falls into Big Mom's hands and she opens it, "the resulting explosion would amount to a declaration of all-out war!!" Luffy says he understands and did what he had to do, but Nami finally erupts: "But why did you give her all the treasure?!!!!" and then shouts, "That's your problem?!!"

The crew declares the obvious: "We're totally doomed!!!" Luffy is already ready to move on and says, "C'mon guys... let's go to da New World..." Nearby, at the Sweet Factory, Caribou wakes up furious. He discovers that all the treasure has vanished without a trace and screams, "Who the hell took it?! I'll rip 'em to pieces, you better believe it!!!" He also remembers his secret prize: "I gotta take that information of the Mermaid Princess' secret outta here with me!! If I do, 'that person' will take a shine to me for sure!!" Then he notices a crowd gathering and two men carrying enormous bags. Seeing treasure again, he snarls, "That's my treasure!!! It's gotta be!!! Who the hell do they think they areeee?!! I'll bury 'em alive!!!"

Caribou storms toward the treasure bags, insisting, "That treasure is mine!! I stole it!! And I'm gonna take it back!!!" Pekoms recognizes him from a wanted poster: "He's Wet-Hair Caribou, a rookie who's made a name for himself recently." Another notes, "He's got two hundred million on his head." Caribou laughs, "Kehihihihihi!!" and opens fire with "Numa Numa no... Gatling Gun!!!" The gunfire tears across the street, but Pekoms does not panic. The attack announces Caribou's Devil Fruit and his bounty, while also setting up the immediate question: how dangerous is a Logia-type rookie in the New World?

Caribou's Gatling Gun fails to stop Pekoms. The crowd screams, "Mr. Pekoms!!" as smoke clears and something strange appears in the blast's place. Someone asks, "The heck is that...?!!" and another shouts, "A turtle?!!" Pekoms has transformed, then emerges with a grim "Ghh!!" Caribou realizes Pekoms is a fruit user too and laughs, "A fruit user, huh?!! But of course." Pekoms' transformation reveals that he is not simply a lion-faced fighter; he can become a turtle-like creature, using the shell to withstand the barrage. Caribou mistakes that discovery for an advantage.

Caribou mocks Pekoms as "nothing but a worthless Zoan," but Pekoms closes the distance and strikes. The panels narrow on Pekoms' face, his clawed stance, and Caribou's smug expression before the blow lands with brutal force. Caribou's Logia body, which had let him slip away from ordinary attacks, does not save him here. Pekoms' punch smashes into him directly, and the crowd reacts in shock. The page makes the New World lesson physical: a rookie who believes his Devil Fruit makes him invincible can be hit and defeated by someone who knows how to fight there.

Caribou crashes down unconscious. Pekoms, whose bounty is revealed as "330,000,000 Belli," says, "Foolish Logia users who think themselves invincible will not last long from here on out." Baron Tamago takes no pleasure in crushing "soft-boiled weaklings" and tells Pekoms to return because their Mama is waiting. Pekoms' victory shows the practical standard of the New World: Devil Fruit intangibility alone is not enough. Haki-capable fighters can punish overconfident Logia users, and Caribou's two hundred million bounty means little against a veteran of Big Mom's crew.

Meanwhile in the New World, in the waters near the Red Line, pirate ships continue surfacing one after another. Marines shout, "Another vessel sighted at 2 o'clock!!" and "These pirate ships just keep surfacing one after another!!" The sea is chaotic with ships bursting up from below, and a large pirate vessel threatens the Marine ship. Someone warns, "Captain Tashigi is in danger!" but Tashigi remains calm: "I'll keep her safe in my tender embrace." Then, seeing enough cannon fire, she says, "Oh, that's quite enough...!!" The Marines around her panic, but she moves into action as the New World arrival route becomes a battlefield.

Tashigi cuts through the incoming cannon fire with precision. She sends a blade through the round shot, and the explosion blooms harmlessly away from the ship. The G-5 Marines adore her for it: "Ohhh yeah!!! That's our lovely captain!!" one cries, while another says, "Man, she's cute! The radiant flower of G-5!!" The praise irritates her. She tells the soldiers they have been properly trained in defending against cannonfire and asks, "Could you take this a little more seriously?!!" Another Marine says she is the master they are talking to, but the scene shows both sides of G-5: Tashigi is disciplined and skilled, while her men are loud, rough, and barely professional.

The page introduces Tashigi formally as "Marine Captain at 'G-5,' The Fifth Marine Branch Station in the Grand Line, Tashigi." She scolds her men: "Why must you always say things like that in the middle of battle?!!" and warns, "You'll lose your lives if you're not careful!! Honestly, I can't stand G-5 sometimes...!!! I find it hard to believe you're Marines at all..." The men answer with leering jokes until someone calls, "Smoker-san!!" Tashigi is conducting an interrogation. The captured pirates explain that they were prisoners of the seabed pirate Hody Jones, which explains why rookies stopped passing through Fishman Island for the past month and why pirate ships are now suddenly crawling up from the depths like cockroaches.

The captured pirates describe the situation on Fishman Island. They say that just when Hody's crew tried to stage a proper uprising, another pirate crew stepped in, defeated many of them, and set the prisoners free. One prisoner says he is not telling this because he owes them his life. The G-5 Marines are feared even by pirates: people say they use pirates as bait to fish for sharks, or burn pirates as fuel on their campfires. Another captive panics, "Vice-Admiral!! Can we take care of these ones?" and begs, "I'll talk, I'll talk!! Please don't kill me!!" Smoker does not need much prompting. When the pirate says the rescuers were "the Straw Hat Pirates!!!" Smoker replies, "As if I needed telling..."

The chapter closes on a stark image of the pirate generation tied to the Straw Hats' return. Luffy stands at the front under the Straw Hat Jolly Roger, while other notorious figures of the same era crowd behind him: Law, Kid, Drake, Hawkins, Apoo, Bege, Urouge, Bonney, Killer, and other recognizable New World-era rivals loom around the central flag. There is no dialogue on the page, but it functions as a visual warning after Smoker hears the Straw Hats' name. Luffy has entered the New World current again, and the world of rival rookies, Marines, Emperors, and dangerous alliances is waiting.

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