Chapters · Final Saga › Egghead

Chapter 1081: Tenth Ship Captain of the Blackbeard Pirates, Kuzan

Arc: Egghead (Blackbeard-front interlude — Pirate Island / Winner Island, NOT Egghead Island) · Saga: Final Saga · Released: 2023-04-23

Summary

On Pirate Island (Fullalead/Hachinosu), Garp’s raid to recover the captured Koby is halted when Kuzan — revealed in the chapter title as the Blackbeard Pirates’ Tenth Ship Captain — freezes the SWORD officer Hibari and blocks Koby’s escape. A flashback to ~1 year ago (about a year after the 2-years-ago Akainu fleet-admiral duel) shows how Kuzan came to Pirate Island after losing the Fleet-Admiral duel to Akainu (and a leg, now packed with ice): drinking with the Blackbeard Pirates, trading Road-Poneglyph intel, threatening to freeze them when they eye his power, and finally accepting Blackbeard’s offer to ride with the crew as “an alignment of interests.” Back in the present, Garp — Kuzan’s old master — refuses to abandon Koby and counters Kuzan’s Ice Ball with a Haki “Hole” punch. Concurrently at Winner Island, the Blackbeard Pirates finish off Trafalgar Law: the Polar Tang is sunk, the Heart Pirates are scattered, Bepo reaches Sulong without a moon to defend his captain, and Law — bleeding in the water with Bepo pleading — is declared defeated.

New reveals

• Kuzan is the Blackbeard Pirates’ Tenth Ship Captain (chapter title; “CAPTAIN KUZAN!!”, p.7) — the deepest on-page confirmation yet of the Kuzan↔Blackbeard alignment first flagged at Ch. 720/Ch. 793.
• Kuzan lost a leg to Akainu in their ~2-years-ago duel and now “fill[s] out the pair with ice at all times” (p.10).
• The four Road Poneglyphs, per Blackbeard intel (p.11): two belong to Kaido and Big Mom; one is “held by a man with a burn scar” (the crew “can’t find” him); and the fourth may belong to a World Government man who “rides an all-black ship” and has a Devil Fruit that “swallows enemies in a gigantic vortex” — “if they hold one of the stones, no pirate will ever reach the One Piece.”
• Rocky Port Incident detail: Law “stole the hearts of a hundred pirates at Rocky Port” (p.17) — the first concrete on-page description of what Law did there (see Rocky Port Incident).
• Blackbeard’s motive for hunting Law: to “sell the Op-Op Fruit, or use it” for eternal life (p.18) — the Ope Ope no Mi immortality operation.
• Bepo reaches Sulong without a full moon (“SULONG / HOW CAN THAT BE?! THE MOON’S NOT OUT!!”, p.18) defending Law.
• Garp trained Kuzan: Kuzan is Garp’s “senior apprentice,” Koby his “protégé” (p.14); “I taught you to live in the moment!!”
• Result: Law and the Heart Pirates are defeated at Winner Island; the Polar Tang is sunk (p.16, 19).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

Appear: Kuzan, Garp, Koby, Tashigi, Hibari (frozen), Blackbeard (flashback), Trafalgar Law, Bepo · Blackbeard Pirates, Heart Pirates, SWORD, Marines · Polar Tang (sunk) · Fullalead (Pirate Island/Hachinosu), Winner Island · color spread: the Straw Hats

Mentioned: Akainu (the duel; “made of magma”), Kaido, Big Mom (Road-Poneglyph holders), Nico Robin (the “little girl” of Ohara, unnamed), Ohara, Rocky Port (Rocky Port Incident), Road Poneglyph · Hie Hie no Mi (Kuzan), Gura Gura no Mi (Blackbeard’s quake fruit, p.9), Ope Ope no Mi (Law’s)

Notable panels

• pp. 1–2 — Color spread (decorative): the Straw Hats lie in a flowering meadow ringed by bubbles and chipmunks/squirrels; Sanji holds a handheld “DOCKING” game; “ONE PIECE” / “By Eiichiro Oda.” Pure leisure spread — no clear foreshadowing.
• p. 3 — Title page; Marine/SWORD bombardment of Pirate Island. Kuzan’s ice technique “Cumulo-Glorpus”.
• p. 7 — The Kuzan reveal: a tall silhouette in ice; “KUZAN.” / “CAPTAIN KUZAN!!” / “YEAAAH! IT’S AOKIJI!!”.
• p. 10 — Kuzan recounts the Akainu duel; reveals he fills his lost leg with ice.
• p. 11 — The four Road Poneglyphs discussion (burn-scar man; all-black-ship WG man with a vortex fruit).
• p. 12 — Kuzan’s Ohara memory: a friend “fighting back against the government” and “the sad, lonely eyes of a little girl whose fate rested in the palm of my hand” (Saul + Nico Robin, unnamed).
• p. 14 — Title card: “BLACKBEARD PIRATES TENTH SHIP CAPTAIN — KUZAN”; Garp/Kuzan master-and-apprentice exchange; Kuzan’s “Ice Ball.”
• p. 15 — Garp’s Haki punch ”…HOLE!!” blows through Kuzan’s ice.
• p. 16 — “WINNER ISLAND, NEW WORLD”; the Polar Tang is sunk.
• pp. 18–19 — Bepo goes Sulong without the moon; Law declared defeated, bleeding in the water as Bepo pleads “You can’t die now, Captain!!”

Open questions raised

• What is Kuzan’s TRUE motive for joining Blackbeard — genuine alliance, a “free man,” or a covert double-game (note Garp’s “I taught you to live in the moment”)?
• Who is the World Government man on the all-black ship with the vortex Devil Fruit, and does he hold the fourth Road Poneglyph?
• How did Bepo trigger Sulong without a full moon?
• Is Law dead, or will the Heart Pirates save him? What becomes of the Ope Ope no Mi if Blackbeard takes it?
• Will Garp free Koby, and can he defeat his own former apprentice?