News of Whitebeard's death quickly begins to spread throughout the world. Silvers Rayleigh watches the monitors at Sabaody from a safe vantage point and drinks to his fellow oldtimer. At Marineford Donquixote Doflamingo chuckles to himself and says that now the world will change, but with the Blackbeard Pirates still here, things won't be settling down at Marineford just yet. The pirates continue their retreat under fire from Navy forces. Jimbei laments that he wasn't able to help Ace or Whitebeard, but vows that he will at least save Luffy.
Below, in the chasm formed in the plaza by Whitebeard's attacks, Akainu is shown holding on to a small outcropping of rock. With his free hand he punches a large hole in the rock wall, and strides into the molten rock.
Above, Buggy tries to make a hasty retreat, wailing to his followers that he'll never be able to take Whitebeard's head now, while admitting to himself that he was just too scared to go anywhere near that legendary pirate, and Blackbeard's presence wasn't helping either. As always, his followers misinterpret him as showing respect and reverence for his fallen enemy, and proclaim that they'll follow him forever, leaving behind their telesnail to watch what is about to unfold.
Blackbeard announces that it's time to begin and his crew mates throw a black tarp over Whitebeard's body. Blackbeard tells the confused onlookers that he'll put on a performance that none of them will forget before ducking underneath it. Shiryuu comments that they'll probably disband if this doesn't work.
Meanwhile Jimbei runs towards the ships as fast as his clogs can carry him, telling the unconscious Luffy that he'll have to preservere in this new world without his brother. He flashes back to a conversation he had with Ace in Impel Down, where Ace asked him to look after Luffy should he die. Jimbei had replied that he's not that kind-hearted, but upon witnessing Luffy's feats in both the prison and at Navy HQ, he's come to respect him, and so he will protect him.
Some pirates aboard an escape ship urge Jimbei's group to hurry aboard, but Aokiji freezes the sea around them, locking them in place. Jimbei says he'll find another ship, but before he can get very far an eruption of lava bursts out of the ground ahead of him. Akainu, bleeding from Whitebeard's attack but still as menacing as ever, emerges from the flames and demands that Luffy be turned over.
Eyecatches: Franky and Zoro
The pirates express disbelief at the Admiral still being alive after the beatdown Whitebeard gave him, and Jimbei refuses to turn Luffy over. Ivankov yells for Jimbei to get down and with support from Inazuma blasts Akainu with Hell Wink. If anything else happens to Luffy, he says, he'll never be able to show his face to Dragon ever again. Akainu says that he has no time to deal with them, while Ivankov retorts that right now he's burning far hotter than Akainu ever could.
Meanwhile, Lafitte remarks that everything should be ready, and he and his fellow crew mates throw off the tarp, revealing Blackbeard and Whitebeard's body again. The marines express confusion since neither of the two look any different than they did before, but Blackbeard soon sets them straight. First, he activates the Dark Dark Fruit and covers the ground in darkness, sucking in any unfortunate soul within range. Then, he holds up his fist, a stance all to familiar to all present...
He punches the air, cracking it and unleashing yet another seismic wave straight at Navy HQ. It seems impossible, but Blackbeard now has the power of both the Dark Dark Fruit and the Quake Quake Fruit! When people start to protest the impossibility of someone having two Devil Fruits, Marco admits that while that is true for normal people, Blackbeard's body is different than normal peoples'.
Blackbeard meanwhile, ecstatic at his new-found power, declares himself to be the strongest and declares to the Navy, the World Government, the pirates, and the world's citizen's, that the era of Whitebeard is over. Now, it's his era.
The impossible has happened. Someone has finally broken the rule of one Devil Fruit per person. Time to put on our tinfoil hats. What makes Blackbeard, or rather his body, so special that he can pull off something like this? Is he an alien? Is it because he's a D? A second stomach? Sucked the power out with the Dark Dark Fruit? Fetus in fetu? Whatever the case may be, the acquisition of the absurdly powerful Quake Quake Fruit certainly just booted Blackbeard up a couple levels on the threat meter, since before with just his Logia (which didn't even offer intangibility) someone who could attack from afar or specialized in close-quarters combat could conceivably lay a hefty beatdown on him. Now, he's far more destructive and can attack from long range. However, this will certainly increase his crippling overconfidence by a hefty amount, and that will probably be the key to his downfall at the end of the series.
Elsewhere, Akainu's back, resuming his pursuit of Luffy. Admire him as a badass or despise him as a complete monster, you have to at least give him credit for his tenacity. When he says he's going to do something, he will not stop until it gets done. Very frightening adversary, as if it needs to be repeated. I must say, I really liked how he detailed he looked in his full-lava form, something I don't think even the manga artwork portrayed. Kudos to the artists for drawing all of those complex cels. The One Piece anime may have its off days, but when it looks good, it looks really good.
And finally, jeebus, the Navy HQ building is still standing in a relatively recognizable state by the end of the episode even after taking all this abuse! I want whoever designed that thing to build my house.
