Chapters · Summit War › Marineford

Chapter 568: Have It Your Way!

Arc: Marineford · Saga: Summit War · Released: 2009-11-09

Summary

Garp — “the hero Garp” — throws himself into the Marineford battle and trades blows directly with Whitebeard, who marks them as men of the same generation; the clash levels swaths of the plaza, drawing a Marine officer’s complaint that the pirates “demolish the town every single time” while Whitebeard’s New World forces roar to “open the path to rescue Ace!!” Lost in his own head on the execution platform, Ace sinks into a childhood flashback: as a boy on his home island he asks about Gol D. Roger and hears the townsfolk damn Roger as “human trash” who “should never have been born,” “the worst catastrophe that could happen to this world.” The young Ace, secretly Roger’s son, then asks his guardian Garp whether his grandson Luffy is “happy,” and finally — “Would it have been better if I was never born?” Garp can only answer, “Only time can answer that question.” Back in the present, Ace weeps that his crew, his Pops, and his brother are all “bleeding and dying” for him. The tide turns against the pirates: Buggy is comically thawed from Aokiji’s ice by lava-heated water and rallies; but Whitebeard takes a grievous wound and is dropped (“Not even you can defeat old age”), and “the thing he feared most” happens — Marco is seized and Jozu is frozen by Aokiji (“You looked away just now”), leaving the strongest man in the world exposed. Watching Pops fall, Luffy begs Emporio Ivankov for one more Energy Hormone shot despite Iva’s warning that it will kill him; “I couldn’t live with” letting Ace die, Luffy insists, and Iva — unable to “face Dragon again” if he lets the boy die — injects him: “Have it your way!!” Luffy surges back to his feet and charges the platform. The chapter’s title page is a B&W illustration of Brook in a “GET” hoodie among sunflowers; the volume’s SBS reveals Tsuru’s Devil Fruit.

New reveals

• Garp joins the war and fights Whitebeard. Captioned “…is joining the battle! The hero Garp…,” Garp wades in and clashes with Whitebeard hand-to-bisento; Whitebeard: “You belong to the same generation!” Marines try to steel themselves (“He’s just a feeble old soldier now!!”) (pp. 2-3).
• Their clash devastates the plaza. A Marine officer snaps “I told you to defend it, didn’t I?” / “Do you have to demolish the town every single time?!” while pirates shout “OPEN THE PATH TO RESCUE ACE!!” — “This is the power of the New World!!” (pp. 3-4).
• Childhood-Ace flashback (home island). A young Ace asks about Gol D. Roger and the townsfolk condemn Roger: “a horrible piece of human trash… worth nothing alive and even less dead… that creature should never have been born… the worst catastrophe… Remember that!!” (p. 5).
• Garp raised Ace. Garp scolds the boy (“What did you do in town, Ace?!”), is the one Ace can ask about Roger (“Don’t ever utter that vile name in my presence, brat!!”), and confirms his grandson “Luffy… he’s all right” (p. 6).
• The question that defines Ace. Young Ace: “Would it have been better if I was never born?” Garp: ”…Only time can answer that question.” (pp. 6-7).
• Ace’s survivor-guilt at the war. Watching the carnage: “Pops… Luffy… all my shipmates… They’re all bleeding and dying for me!! …I’m so torn up inside! Even now…” (p. 8).
• Buggy thawed by accident. Aokiji had frozen Buggy; “the water that got heated by the lava thawed you out!!” Buggy rallies — “Nobody freezes me and gets away with it!!” — to his crew’s awe (p. 9).
• Whitebeard is wounded and downed. He takes a heavy hit (“Blast it all!” / SPLAT), and a Marine gloats “Not even you can defeat old age…”; “POPS?!” (pp. 10-12).
• Whitebeard’s strongest commanders removed. “The thing I feared most is happening!!” — Marco is seized and Jozu is frozen by Aokiji (“You looked away just now”), and by the next beat “Pops is down!!” (pp. 11-13).
• Luffy demands a lethal hormone dose. Iva: another Energy Hormone shot “would kill you!!” — Luffy hasn’t recovered from the poison and has fought nonstop since Impel Down. Luffy: “I don’t care if I die!… Let me fight, Iva!” / “I couldn’t live with” letting Ace die (pp. 13-14).
• “Have it your way!!” Iva relents — “If I let you die… I’d never be able to face Dragon again, you young fool!!” — and injects Luffy, who explodes back into the fight (pp. 14-15).
• SBS (Vol. 58): Tsuru ate the Wash-Wash Fruit (Woshu Woshu no Mi), a Paramecia making her a “Washer-Human”; she can wash anything, and washing villains “gets their hearts a little bit cleaner” — making their evil “fainter.” She is the one who hung the pirates out to dry behind her in Ch. 556 (p. 16).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

(None resolved on-page this chapter — the chapter is mid-war rising action.)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters (shown, present): Garp (clashing with Whitebeard), Whitebeard (“Pops”; wounded and downed), Ace (on the platform), Luffy, Emporio Ivankov (“Iva”), Buggy (thawed, rallying), Marco (seized), Jozu (frozen), Aokiji (freezes Jozu, p. 11)
• Characters (shown, flashback): Ace as a boy, Garp as his guardian, unnamed home-island townsfolk
• Characters (mentioned): Gol D. Roger (condemned in the flashback; Ace’s father), Dragon (Iva: “I’d never be able to face Dragon again,” p. 14), Tsuru (SBS, p. 16), Mr. 3 (SBS framing gag, p. 16)
• Cover/title page: Brook (B&W title illustration, p. 1)
• Locations: Marine Headquarters (Marineford — plaza + execution platform); an unnamed home-island town (Ace flashback)
• Powers / fruits: Gura Gura no Mi (Whitebeard’s quake attacks, in action), Woshu Woshu no Mi (Tsuru’s Wash-Wash Fruit, SBS p. 16)
• Groups: Whitebeard Pirates (and allied New World fleet), Marines, Buggy Pirates

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Title page (B&W): Brook in a black “GET” hoodie, holding a coiled hose/rope and leaning on a wooden fence in a field of sunflowers, beside a lion-maned sunflower-faced creature. A standalone title illustration (no in-chapter cover-serial panels); part of the war-era run of individual-Straw-Hat title-page art teasing where the scattered crew landed after Sabaody. Logged in Marineford-Title-Page-One-Offs as a caption-less decorative one-off (no serial banner, no “Vol. N” counter) — the Brook counterpart to the Ch. 565 savanna page; see Kuma’s Scatter Sends Each Straw Hat To A Place That Forges Them.
• Page 2 — “…is joining the battle! The hero Garp…” Garp enters; Whitebeard: “You belong to the same generation!”; WHAM!!
• Pages 3-4 — Garp/Whitebeard clash flattens the plaza; “Do you have to demolish the town every single time?!”; “OPEN THE PATH TO RESCUE ACE!!” / “This is the power of the New World!!”
• Page 5 — Flashback opens: townsfolk damn Gol D. Roger — “should never have been born… the worst catastrophe… Remember that!!” — with a small, listening Ace.
• Pages 6-7 — Garp and young Ace: “Is [Luffy] happy?” → “Would it have been better if I was never born?” → “Only time can answer that question.”
• Page 8 — Ace on the platform, weeping: “They’re all bleeding and dying for me!!”
• Page 9 — Buggy thawed by lava-heated water; “Cap’n Buggy!! You’re alive!!”; a fellow escapee weeps with admiration (“the tears won’t stop flowing!!”).
• Pages 10-12 — Whitebeard takes a heavy wound (SPLAT) and is dropped; “Not even you can defeat old age…”; “POPS?!”
• Page 11 — “The thing I feared most is happening!!” — Marco seized (“MARCO!!”), Jozu frozen by Aokiji: “You looked away just now.”
• Pages 13-15 — Iva warns the hormone will kill Luffy; “I couldn’t live with that!!”; Iva relents — “I’d never be able to face Dragon again” — and injects him: “HAVE IT YOUR WAY!!” Luffy charges.
• Page 16 — SBS Question Corner (Vol. 58): Tsuru’s Devil Fruit named — the Wash-Wash Fruit (Woshu Woshu no Mi), a “Washer-Human” Paramecia who can wash the evil out of hearts (the laundry-line gag from Ch. 556). (sbs-leak — cross-link applied by the SBS specialist.)

Open questions raised

• Will time prove Ace’s birth “worth it” — and what verdict does the war deliver on Garp’s deferred answer?
• Can Whitebeard recover with Marco restrained and Jozu frozen, or has the Navy just broken the alliance’s spine?
• How long can a lethally over-dosed Luffy keep fighting before the hormone’s price comes due?
• Why was Garp — a Marine hero and Luffy’s grandfather — the one entrusted to raise Roger’s son?