One Piece Chapter 540

Cover

Robin reads a bedtime story to the Straw Hat Pirates and some animals in a forest.

Storyline

Luffy charges down the stairs to level 6 with Ivankov and Inazuma.

An announcement is made informing the staff that the traps have failed and the fugitives Emporio Ivankov, his servant Inazuma, and Straw Hat Luffy have entered Level 6.

Luffy yells for Ace, but immediately realizes that he is no longer there. Ivankov yells at a guard if he is quite sure that Ace was really there. The latter explicitly answers in the affirmative. Jinbe, the “Knight of the Seas”, intervenes and asks Luffy if he is Luffy. He then tells them that Ace was taken away via the elevator just a moment ago, and says that Luffy should hurry because he might still manage to catch up to him. Luffy doesn’t even know who is talking to him right now. Jinbe stresses again that Luffy should hurry. Luffy thanks the fish man, even though he doesn’t know him. As Luffy and the other two walk to the elevator, Jinbe is amazed that Luffy got this far. In his opinion, it would be simply unbelievable, as one or two lives shouldn’t be enough for that.

Ivankov notes that you can’t use the elevator manually. Luffy says that you can just climb up. In response, a giant ball flies at him, blocking the elevator. You return to the stairs, but they have been blocked as well. On top of that, sleeping gas is also flowing in, which Inazuma and Ivankov notice by Luffy running in and immediately falling to the ground asleep.

Scene Change. Magellan is seen pushing Ace down to earth. He asks Ace if he heard the announcement, mentioning that Luffy was already lost when he set foot in the Impel Down. At this, he wonders how Luffy only survived. Ace hoped that it was just a lie that Luffy had entered there.

Back in level 6: The inmates howl and tell Luffy and co. to do something about the gas. You see the devilish power of Inazuma for the first time. He cuts up the floor of Level 6 and puts the pieces around the stairs where the gas was flowing to plug them up. All of Level 6 is surprised at his abilities. Ivankov explains that Inazuma ate of the scissor fruit and became a scissor man. This allows him to manipulate what he cut as if it were paper. Luffy gets upset because the stairs were the only way out, but now they are blocked because of Inazuma. In response, he just says that it was the only way to stop the gas.

Ivankov notices that the Vivre Card is already not even pointing straight up. He thinks that Ace is already being handed over to the Navy, which he is right about. Furthermore, he says that even if they were able to break out, it wouldn’t be worth anything, since Ace is already being taken to Marine HQ and Luffy should leave the rest to Whitebeard. But uncompromising as Luffy is, he also wants to go to Marine HQ if Ace is taken there. Ivankov is very indignant at this statement and points out to Luffy that he would have to fight all the samurai, the vice admirals and admirals there and he knows how strong they are. Luffy doesn’t care, though, and says with a rip-roaring, almost commanding manner that he’s going to leave, so Ivankov looks at Luffy’s presence the same way he looks at the Dragons.

Crocodile butts into the conversation, pointing out that if they would release him from his bonds, he could make a big hole in the ceiling, allowing them to escape. Luffy is surprised to find Crocodile locked in there as well. Crocodile says he lost all interest in breaking out of Impel Down until the time he heard that Whitebeard and the Navy were going to fight with each other and he had the opportunity to finally get Whitebeard’s head. He offers his help to Luffy. Luffy, however, flatly refuses, as it was Crocodile who threw Vivi’s entire country into chaos. Ivankov, however, wants to release him in any case, as he could still be very useful, be it in Impel Down or in the Navy Headquarters.

Ivankov calls Crocodile Croco-san, to which Luffy immediately reacts in horror, quite stunned that the two know each other. Ivankov tells him that they’ve known each other since Crocodile was still a rookie, and that he knows one of Crocodile’s major weaknesses, so he’d watch out for him himself in case he tried to betray them. More Level 6 inmates now start begging to be taken, however they are immobilized by Ivankov’s Death Wink. Jinbe also wants to come with them, telling them that he’s known Ace since he joined Whitebeard, and Ace also told him a lot about Luffy during their time together in Impel Down.

Luffy agrees, but Inazuma is rather indignant about it, not knowing how dangerous Jinbe is. Luffy, however, is not swayed and sticks to his opinion. Again, a few inmates come forward, but they are immediately stopped cold. Everyone is now gathered and ready to break out. Jinbe and Crocodile are already arguing because Crocodile wants to kill Whitebeard, but Jinbe wants to keep him alive at all costs. Inazuma says that with Crocodile, they now have two samurai. Luffy asks who the second one is.