Storyline
The whale sharks that Jinbe summoned take Luffy and the rest of the prisoners to the navy ship that was captured by Jinbe, Crocodile, and Daz Bonez. Magellan is dumbfounded when he sees this, while Luffy is once again thrilled to see what one of his new friends is capable of. All the prisoners then end up safely on the Navy ship, happy that the big breakout has been a complete success so far. Even Luffy and Buggy dance together to celebrate their escape. However, Jinbe, who is at the helm, thinks it’s too early to celebrate and wants to get the ship to safe waters first.
On the ship, Luffy thanks the whale sharks as they head back home. Ivankov doesn’t feel like celebrating either and first orders Inazuma, who is still unconscious and poisoned, to bring all the medicine that is on board. The ex-convicts, on the other hand, are happy to finally live in freedom again, some want to go back to their families, others can’t believe their luck and have tears in their eyes, but most of them agree on one thing, and that is that they owe it all to their hero Captain Buggy.
Magellan contacts another naval ship to pick him up, as he wants to deal with the prisoners personally. He believes that they must have forgotten that they are still not safe, as there is still the Gate of Justice, which must first be passed.
The naval ships receive Magellan’s orders and, having since repaired the cannons damaged by Jinbe, they immediately begin to lay siege to Luffy and the ex-convicts’ ship.
With an entire fleet chasing after the Straw Hat’s ship, it’s hard not to get hit. Jinbe, however, remains calm and continues to hold the course.
All the naval captains then shout to the fugitives to give up as the gate of justice would never open for “pirate trash”.
Only now Luffy & Co. see their last and biggest obstacle and are despairing. Buggy asks Jinbe what he wants to do now. However, he still refuses to be ruffled and declares that they will continue on their way. Meanwhile, Luffy orders the others to protect the ship from the rain of cannonballs for now. Crocodile, however, thinks that since they also have a naval battleship, they’d better fire back. Since hardly anyone was listening to Crocodile, Buggy pretends it was his idea and orders the ex-prisoners to fire back.
The navy doesn’t understand why the pirates continue to drive towards the gate, even though it is closed, when suddenly, to everyone’s amazement, it does open.
Magellan was about to go on a naval ship as well, but is then shocked to see the Gate of Justice open.
Level 1, in the control room of the Impel Down: The order to open the Gate of Justice came from a second Magellan, who thinks he has his reasons to give this order. Meanwhile, the real Magellan makes his way to the control room, enters, and is shocked to see his double before him.
On the pirate ship, as they passed through the gate, Jinbe had explained to Luffy what was going on. Bon Kurei stayed behind in the Impel Down to give the order to open the gate as Magellan did so.
Impel Down: Bon Kurei shows his true colors and Magellan gets angry. Bon Kurei then transforms back into Magellan and orders one of the guards to push the button to close the gate again. The real Magellan again orders the opposite, otherwise the pirates really would still escape. Since Bon Kurei as Magellan kept ordering the button to be pushed and Magellan ordered it not to be pushed, the guard was completely confused as to who was who now. Bon Kurei took advantage of this, then stood behind the real Magellan to make it look like he was the real one, thus getting the guard to press the button after all. Bon Kurei then transformed back into his true form and destroyed the machine to prevent anyone from still following Luffy.
On Luffy & Co’s ship, Luffy asks how it is that Bon Kurei is still in the Impel Down, since he was with them earlier at the entrance. Luffy doesn’t want to leave his friend behind and turn back, but Jinbe just snaps at him that they don’t have time for that. Jinbe explains that they’ve already left many others behind during their escape, and they couldn’t have escaped if someone hadn’t stayed behind. Bon Kurei himself had decided to stay behind as he was best suited for the task of opening the gate. However, he didn’t want Jinbe to tell Luffy about it before they passed the gate. Jinbe then hands Luffy a Den-den Mushi to talk to Bon Kurei one last time before the gate closes completely and contact is broken.
Impel Down: Bon Kurei thinks that touching Magellan’s face back when he was Hannyabal was really useful for storing it in his memories. However, Luffy then reports in via the Den-den Mushi. Luffy asks why it has to turn out the way it did last time (that time Bon Kurei sacrificed himself so Hina wouldn’t catch the Straw Hat Pirates). Why it would always have to be Bon Kurei who saves him. Bon Kurei, however, doesn’t answer.
Meanwhile, on the pirate ship, everyone else has also heard about Bon Kurei’s sacrifice. Mr. 3 and Buggy are in tears and apologize to him. Everyone then wants Bon Kurei to answer them, but he remains silent, albeit in tears. As the gates are about to close, Luffy and everyone else once again thank their friend for his sacrifice. Bon Kurei, meanwhile, can’t take it anymore and calls back over the Den-den Mushi. He wants Luffy to make sure he saves Ace, too. Bon Kurei says he knows Luffy can do it. After that, the gates closed and contact broke off. The ship was safe, thanks to Bon Kurei. Luffy, Buggy, Mr. 3, Ivankov, as well as many trannies and ex-prisoners call Bon Kurei’s name to the gate once again with tears in their eyes.
Impel Down: Magellan now wants revenge on Bon Kurei for causing so many pirates to escape him, and asks about the latter’s last words. Bon Kurei’s last words, however, were “I regret nothing.”
With 241 refugees, this was the Impel Down’s biggest loss.
There are four hours left before Ace’s execution.
| TV Episode Guide | Impel Down Arc (Anime) |
