Chapter 1081

Koby begs for Kuzan to thaw out Hibari, but he refuses, saying that it would look bad for them if Koby escaped while Blackbeard was away. As it turns out, roughly a year after Kuzan’s battle with Sakazuki for the position of Fleet Admiral on Punk Hazard, the Blackbeard Pirates crossed paths with Kuzan drinking in a bar. Blackbeard asks Kuzan why he froze his crew, including the massive Sanjuan Wolf before demanding he undo it, but Kuzan tells him to calm down while warning him not to use the Gura Gura no Mi and risk shattering his frozen crew. Kuzan says his crew were the ones who decided to pick a fight with him. Eventually, the former admiral does thaw everyone out and he ends up having a drink with Blackbeard and his crew as he talks about his battle against Akainu, showing off the loss of his left leg that he regularly has to replace using the Hie Hie no Mi while commenting that though Akainu was not as badly injured, he was not completely unscathed either.

At one point, Catarina Devon asks Kuzan if he knows anything about “the man marked by flames”. When Kuzan inquires what she means, Jesus Burgess tells him about the Road Poneglyphs and how Kaidou and Big Mom are known to have one each, however, they do not know the location of the other two but heard a rumor that “the man marked by flames” has one. Kuzan jokingly says he is the one they are talking about. However, neither of them believes him, and Laffitte says that this man sails a pitch-black ship and anyone who sails close to him gets swallowed up by a whirlpool. Shiryu believes the man works for the World Government, reasoning that they would want to hide one of the Road Poneglyphs to prevent other pirates from finding the One Piece.

Kuzan tells the Blackbeard Pirates that the Poneglyphs only give him bitter memories; though he says he did not see a red Poneglyph on Ohara, he mainly remembers his friend and Nico Robin, and how he chose to take fate into his own hands. The others are not moved by Kuzan’s sob story as Laffitte asks Blackbeard if they should kill him and take his Devil Fruit for themselves. Kuzan hears this and gets angry, but Blackbeard tells him that he has no intention of doing so. In fact, he wants Kuzan to join his crew. Kuzan refuses to join up at first, but Blackbeard points out that he considers his pirate crew a gang of people looking out for their own interests.

Besides, he does not work for the World Government anymore, so he can do whatever he wants. In the present, Garp demands Kuzan thaw out Hibari, but he tells him that he has always admired how direct Garp is, and it is because of that he wants to do things on his own terms. He asks if Garp can seriously kill his former number one protégé to save his new favorite as he freezes him with Ice Ball, but Garp breaks out and reminds Kuzan that he taught him to live in the now. He then tells Kuzan that only weaklings lose their way as he grabs him by the face and slams him through the ground with a move called Blue Hole. Meanwhile, on Winner Island, Blackbeard has defeated Trafalgar Law and destroyed the Polar Tang. He tells Law that the pirates whose hearts he stole at Rocky Port, to join the Seven Warlords, are still on Hachinosu and he should probably kill him and bring his heart there as a trophy. As Teach debates on what to do once he has the Ope Ope no Mi, Bepo attacks him in his Sulong form, which he was able to assume outside of a full moon thanks to a special drug Chopper gave him. He buys himself enough time to grab Law and jump into the ocean, but Law tells him to go back for the crew. Bepo tells him that he cannot do so, but he has faith they will survive as he desperately begs his captain not to die. The narration then declares that the Heart Pirates were soundly defeated on Winner Island.