Episode 601

"Shaking Up the New World - Caesar's Nightmarish Experiment" is the 601st episode of the One Piece anime.

Short Summary
At the lab, the G-5 Marine soldiers are banging on the door, demanding entry. Meanwhile, the children were returned to the Lab where Caesar ordered his subordinates to make sure they don't escape again. However, Mocha begins to regain her senses, seeing Caesar's subordinates as monsters.

Within Ceasar's private quarters, Vergo and Monet are waiting for Caesar's return. As soon as he arrived, he revealed that he made a deal with Law in the past to give his heart to him and in exchange he will get to keep Monet's. He shows Law that Vergo is now in possession of his heart while he himself has Smoker's heart, but before he would torture him, Monet informs Caesar that the broadcast is ready.

In the broadcast, it is shown that a very large candy is being offered to Smiley, which is a deadly weapon known as Shinokuni. Caesar then ordered the men that brought the candy to quickly return to the Lab. As Zoro's Group are being chased by Smiley, the poison beast saw the candy and promtly swollowed it, ignoring the false heartfelt words from Caesar. He then laughs as everyone watching the broadcast sees the creature behaving strangely.

Long Summary
Caesar Clown and the children are seen disembarking from the Flying Gas Balloon, surprising the nearby Marines who question what the ship is. Entering the research laboratory through an upper entrance, Caesar reminds the children are that the lab is their home and their candy is in Biscuits Room. Ordering his subordinates to lock the doors and to make sure they do not escape again, all of the children hurry inside eagerly, with the exception of Mocha, who upon entering begins to resist the addictive drug and remembers her frightening memories of the Lab. Some of the satyrs try to calm her down, but she finally remembers Nami and Usopp who were telling all the children not to follow Caesar and trying to save them. Realizing exactly what had happened, she begins to try and escape again, crying out for Nami and Usopp to help her.

Far in the distance, back at the Straw Hats' make-shift hide out, Nami eventually regains consciousness, marveling at how Sanji's strong body allowed her to survive Caesar's attack. Noticing Usopp beginning to awaken nearby, she moves to assist him. Confusing her with the real Sanji, Usopp let's slip his disappointment in it actually being Nami causing her to become rather abrasive.

Back in the laboratory, Caesar meets up with Monet and Vergo, the latter of the two talking about how they had just been drinking coffee with some cookies, only to quickly remember that there wasn't any cookies to be had. Asking Caesar when is he going to start the experiment, the mad scientist replies by asking Monet to collect some pictures, and tells Vergo to do a better job at keeping the Marines at bay, admitting that the arrival of Smoker and his men had caused him to become nervous.

Moving towards the cage, Caesar then reveals that he knows all of Law's plans due to Monet's tracking Law with her abilities, and thanks Law for naïvely giving him his heart in exchange for Monet's heart as part of their contract. Responding to Caesar's condescending gloat by insulting his intellectual abilities, Caesar becomes infuriated and grabs Law's heart (which had been being held out by Vergo), and squeezed it, inflicting pain upon the Shichibukai. Luffy, impressed and shocked at how he can still survive despite his heart no longer being inside his body, is cut off by Smoker who demands to know where his heart was currently being held. Holding it out before him, Caesar gloatingly mocks him about it.

Receiving a call from his subordinates, Caesar then resumes his broadcast to the brokers through a Den Den Mushi, explaining the nature of his pet/weapon Smiley and the history of the island. Pinpointing the one flaw of the weapon from four years ago, he then elaborates and explains that he had since eliminated said flaw, and by feeding Smiley with a special bait he prepared, the poisonous axolotl would became an improved weapon called Shinokuni; being an even stronger poisonous gas weapon than it was before.

Outside in the winter region, Smiley is shown to still be chasing after Sanji, Zoro, Brook, and Kin'emon, who marvel at its still growing size. They notice a giant sweet in the distance with a big screen behind it and something underneath. Pulling the sweet across the plains, several of Caesar's subordinates and Vegapunk's dragon are then told by Caesar to escape before Smiley caught up to them. Realizing their sled was no longer usable, and the dragon having freed itself, the men quickly run away with the Straw Hats and Kin'emon trailing shortly behind. Reaching the sweet, Smiley briefly pauses after seeing Caesar on the display. Attempting to show his taming of the monster, Caesar begun issuing orders for the slime only to be ignored, with the monster quickly devouring the large sweet.

Anime Notes

 * The anime adds the following:
 * In addition to having a hallucination with seeing a person with a snake head, Mocha also sees a person with a frog head and a person with a lizard head.
 * Monet serving coffee to Vergo and asking if he would accept it with milk.
 * When Caesar was feigning worry for his subordinates, he is seen holding a bottle of the acid that was used to damage the sled used by his subordinates.
 * The preview at the end is shortened for the first time since Episode 580.