Episode 638

"A Deadly Blow! The Astonishing King Punch" is the 638th episode of the One Piece anime.

Short Summary
With Hack defeated and the remaining fighters reduced to 24, the battle royale is nearly over. Bellamy faces off Bartolomeo while at the same time Blue Gilly defeats Ricky. The bribed fighters protecting Elizabello II guard themselves from Blue Gilly's assault but were backstabbed by Dagama who revealed that Blue Gilly was his partner, but Dagama secretly plans to betray Blue Gilly. However, the long legged martial artist never trusted the tactical schemer and quickly knocks him out of the ring.

Bellamy is currently struggling against Bartolomeo while at the same time, Elizabello II is cornered but is fully prepared to unleash his devastating punch. The audience heard of the fighting king's reputation and proceeds to get out of the way of his punch. When Blue Gilly moves in for the kill, the king delivers the punch at point blank, creating a destructive shockwave throughout the ring. When the smoke cleared, Elizabello II and Bartolomeo were the only ones standing with the latter revealing his Devil fruit and the former being defeated by that power. Bartolomeo is now the champion of the Block B battle royale.

Meanwhile, Franky is informed by Thunder Soldier that he too is part of an operation to destroy the SMILE factory but needs the cyborg's help in rescuing the workers held prisoner there. The toy soldier then prepares to tell Franky the history of Dressrosa.

Long Summary
Bartolomeo kicks Hack and knocks him out, eliminating him from the competition, this astonishes the crowd including the commentator who apparently was cheering for Hack to win. The commentator then gets control of himself and announces that the B block battle is still anyone's game and that there are 24 participants left, some of the combatants still left standing being: Bellamy the Hyena, Bartolomeo the cannibal, Dagama, King Elizabello II the fighting king, Blue Gilly, and Ricky.

Dagama then announces to Blue Gilly that everyone is wounded and that now is the time, Blue Gilly then kicks Ricky in the helmet, and wounds him gravely. Blue Gilly questions Ricky as to "what he is trying to cut, with a dull sword" while Ricky lies on the ground commenting that he can not win against time, and that he hates the cheers and that he hates Doflamingo. Blue Gilly and Dagama then attack the gladiators that Dagama had bribed into helping him from behind, betraying them, Dagama then tries to double cross Blue Gilly and attack him from behind, but Blue Gilly notices and counters with a kick that knocks Dagama out of the ring and promptly gets attacked by a fighting fish as insult to injury. Blue Gilly knew never to trust a schemer like him and was watching his back the whole time, earning him the praise from the audience.

Meanwhile Bellamy has been fighting Bartolomeo and is on death's door, been severely outclassed by him, Bellamy then comments that Bartolomeo must have eaten a Devil Fruit. The spectators noticed that Bellamy was mysteriously hurt after he attacked Bartolomeo just like Hack, while Luffy still hanging from a window sill shouts encouragement at Bellamy.

Meanwhile a group of competitors have ganged up on king Elizabello II, while Blue Gilly taunts him saying that he is now unprotected to which the king retorts back to Blue Gilly with a threat of his own. The crowd is now very curious as to what will happen next, as they have heard about the power of Elizabello's punches, and they decide to run away when he starts preparing to punch. As Elizabello is about to punch, Blue Gilly quickly moves in with the intent to break the king's neck while Bellamy has managed to catch Bartolomeo with his hands, when he felt the power eliminating from the king and turns around to sees in horror that he and Bartolomeo are directly in the path of the punch. With the power channeled in an hour of focus, Elizabello unleashes his punch directly in front of Blue Gilly, breaking the sound barrier and releasing an unstoppable shock wave, destroying anything in its path and sent everyone in the ring flying and out of the fight. The punch alone generated a blinding light that prevents anyone from seeing whats happening. Outside of the colosseum, by passers stop to look at the rising smoke and the loud sound that came from the colosseum. As the smoke clears, the shaken commentator crawled out of the safety of his stand and announces to the audience that every fighter except for Elizabello II had been knocked out.

Before he could announce the winner, one of the audience shouts out there is still someone else standing, and the smoke clears revealing a transparent barrier protecting not only the audience from the brunt of the punch but Bartolomeo as well. Bartolomeo then reveals that he ate the Bari Bari no Mi, a devil fruit that allows him to create a barrier when he crosses his fingers, he then attacks Elizabello with a barrier which proves to be powerful enough to injure him and sent him skidding near the edge of the ring. With the last remaining fighter knocked out, the commentator announces Bartolomeo as the winner of the B block battle royale which disappoints the crowd.

Meanwhile inside the corridor leading to the seats, Thunder Soldier reveals to Franky that he is also planning to destroy the factory. Franky demands to know the location of it but Thunder Soldier tells him they must first free the workers and that their tactic is important as it will bring the fall of Dressrosa. Thunder Soldier then states that if Franky is seriously going to stand up against Doflamingo then he will explain the history of Dressrosa.

Anime Notes

 * The anime shows Ricky dodging some of Blue Gilly's attacks before getting kicked down.
 * Bellamy's fight with Bartolomeo is extended.
 * The anime adds a scene with Thunder Soldier questioning Franky of his motives.
 * Blue Gilly was only able to say the "Shooting" part of his "Shooting Moon" attack, as he was interrupted by the King Punch.
 * While not shown in the manga, Bellamy is shown on top of a piece of rubble while floating on the water outside the ring. This is a recurring plot device to avoid drowning characters with Devil Fruits.