Chivalry vs. Fish-Man Karate

Now that Hatchan lies beaten, Zoro prepares to dive after the submerged Luffy, but Sanji, refusing to watch a wounded man drown himself, jumps in ahead of him. Delighted, Kuroobi follows, hungry for combat in the element where his power swells. Sinking down, Sanji spots Genzo working Luffy's chest while Nojiko keeps the captain's stretched head above water, and he realizes that all he must do is smash the rock locking Luffy's feet. Kuroobi reaches him first, though, and the two seize hold of one another. With his lungs failing and his kicks cut to half their force, Sanji absorbs a savage barrage of strikes.

Mocking Sanji's sense of honor, Kuroobi attempts to finish him by dragging him swiftly to the seafloor, gambling that the abrupt shift in pressure will rupture his insides. Sanji endures it, then sinks his teeth into Kuroobi's gills, cutting off the fish-man's breath long enough to wrench loose and rise for air. He dares Kuroobi to climb up after him. Too sure of himself on land, Kuroobi goes for his ultimate technique, only for Sanji to bury him under a flurry of kicks and seal the fight with the Mouton Shot.

Genzo and Nojiko start the effort to revive Luffy, hauling his elongated neck until his head breaks the surface. Sanji overcomes Kuroobi in two stages: first by choking him through the gills below the water, then by overpowering him once the battle reaches the shore. The finishing strike is the Mouton Shot, and as Kuroobi is sent flying, Sanji jeers by asking whether he would care for any dessert.

The chapter belongs to the Arlong Park Arc. Its cover depicts Nami perched on a bridge next to a burglar-masked otter, a sack of stolen goods between them and a signpost pointing toward both justice and bad conduct. According to the trivia, the issue's initial run in Weekly Shonen Jump rendered the first two narrative pages in color rather than black and white. From the shoreline, the Cocoyasi villagers worry aloud over what has become of Sanji, Genzo, and Nojiko.