Episode 731

"As Long as We Breathe - Stop the Deadly Birdcage!" is the 731st episode of the One Piece anime.

Short Summary
The Marines and citizens on Dressrosa take part in the effort to halt the Birdcage, and briefly manage to bring it to a standstill. Meanwhile, Viola confronts Doflamingo, but he easily overpowers and immobilizes her. Doflamingo then takes control of Rebecca and forces her to attack her aunt, as 60 seconds remain before Luffy regains his Haki.

Long Summary
The citizens of Dressrosa are bewildered when their injuries are healed, but only care about getting away from the shrinking Birdcage. Suddenly, Hack and Usopp appear above them on a piece of rubble, and the citizens are shocked to see Usopp, wondering what he did to receive his five-star bounty. Usopp says that his friends are pushing the Birdcage and tells any able-bodied citizen to go help them. The stunned citizens say that such a feat is impossible, but Usopp gets angry and tells them to go, and the citizens become scared of his perceived power and obey his orders. Usopp wonders if they are really pushing the Birdcage and asks Viola to confirm it, but realizes that she is suddenly not with them anymore. He then decides to go meet with the rest of the citizens.

As Luffy continues recovering with Law guarding him, Doflamingo slashes Spartan in the chest. With all the gladiators defeated, Doflamingo shouts for Luffy to show himself. However, Spartan grabs Doflamingo's leg, saying that he was still alive, but Doflamingo shoots him and steps on his head. Some other gladiators get back up in order to distract Doflamingo as long as possible, with one of them grabbing the Shichibukai from behind in order to keep him immobilized. As the others rush toward him, however, Doflamingo stabs all of them with sheets of string. Viola watches this as she runs through the city, and Doflamingo's brutality visibly stuns her. Meanwhile, a large crowd forms in the center of town, but Rebecca tells the citizens to head for the palace since the center of the Birdcage is moving in that direction.

The citizens comply, but Rebecca knows that as long as Doflamingo remains alive, the efforts to stop the Birdcage may be in vain. Picking up a sword left by one of the fallen gladiators, she decides to confront Doflamingo herself and try to bring an end to the cage. However, she sees Viola confronting Doflamingo, and Viola asks Rebecca why she came. She tells her niece that she could not face Kyros or Scarlett if Rebecca was killed and says that as a former officer of the Donquixote Pirates it was her responsibility to bring Doflamingo down. Viola casts off her cape and hairpins as she brandishes a knife and prepares to engage in a fight to the death. She rushes at Doflamingo, but the Shichibukai easily dodges her stabs and kicks before kicking her to the ground.

At the SMILE Factory, Franky and the dwarves continue pushing on it, while nearby, Zoro, Kin'emon, and Kanjuro keep pushing the Birdcage with their swords. Zoro thinks that it is slowing down, which Kanjuro initially agrees with, but the samurai quickly changes his mind. Suddenly, Fujitora walks forward, shocking Zoro, and the admiral unsheathes his sword. Zoro thinks he is about to attack, but Fujitora instead clashes his sword against the Birdcage, saying he would do what little he could to help. A procession of Marines then arrives, with the ones who could use Haki joining Fujitora and the ones who could not joining Franky and the dwarves at the factory. As the Marines help push the factory, nearby citizens are encouraged to push it as well, and more citizens help the gladiators push Bartolomeo's barrier on the other side of the island. Kyros recalls telling Rebecca to guide the citizens. Eventually, their titanic effort causes the cage to briefly come to a standstill. However, it quickly starts moving again, and they resume pushing, but now have hope that it can be stopped. Riku Dold III and Tank Lepanto join the effort at the SMILE Factory, with the former king praising the citizens' efforts.

Viola stands up and attacks Doflamingo with whale-shaped tears, but Doflamingo easily blocks the attack and grabs her by the wrist. He knocks her to the ground, saying he would have no mercy even though she was once in his crew because he does not tolerate betrayal. Doflamingo immobilizes Viola with strings and hauls her upward before turning his attention to Rebecca and taking control of her as well. Rebecca grows more and more frightened as Doflamingo moves her toward them against her will, forcing her to brandish her sword with the intention of attacking Viola. Meanwhile, the Birdcage starts slicing up the King's Plateau, and as Gatz climbs up a cliff he wonders how much time Luffy needs before he regains his Haki. It is revealed that Luffy will regain his Haki in 60 seconds, which is when the Birdcage will fully close.

Anime Notes

 * The anime adds the following:
 * Hack and Usopp noticing that Viola was no longer with them.
 * Rolling Logan and several other gladiators trying to stop Doflamingo and then being defeated.
 * Rebecca telling the Dressrosa citizens to go to the New King's Plateau.
 * While not shown in the manga, Rebecca was initially helping Kyros and Luffy's allies push back the Birdcage. In the manga, she left without Kyros knowing in order to confront Doflamingo, but in the anime Kyros told her to help the citizens.
 * Rebecca getting a new sword is shown onscreen.
 * Viola's fight with Doflamingo is shown.
 * Viola uses Hierro Lagrima: Mekujira for the second time.
 * When the Birdcage stopped, Rebecca and Viola are shown noticing it.
 * In the manga, Issho simply approaches the Birdcage and draws his blade to hold it back, surprising Zoro and the samurai with his arrival. In the anime, when Issho first approaches the Birdcage, the reactions of Zoro and the samurai are shown in more detail- Zoro feels a sense of unease towards a potential fight breaking out with him, as do Kin'emon and Kanjuro. Also, from Zoro's perspective, as Issho draws his blade, it looks as though the admiral is about to strike him down while he is unable to defend himself, and he stares on in fear before Issho turns out to have no hostile intentions and is actually pitching in to help hold off the Birdcage.
 * While not explicitly shown in the manga, the anime shows several more Marines other than Issho imbuing Haki into their swords and assisting Zoro and the samurais.
 * In the manga, it was stated that the Birdcage has been slowed down and it would take one more minute for Luffy to regain his Haki. However, in the anime it was stated that it would take one minute for Luffy to regain his Haki and for the Birdcage to completely close.