Episode 879

"To the Levely - The Straw Hats' Sworn Allies Come Together" is the 879th episode of the One Piece anime.

Short Summary
As the royals from Dressrosa and Prodence Kingdom sail to Mary Geoise for the Levely, they are attacked by pirates, but are saved by Koby and Helmeppo. Koby becomes flustered when Rebecca shows him the newspaper article about Luffy, and remembers his life-altering encounter with the Straw Hat.

The Yonko find out that Luffy has been declared an Emperor, and Shanks reacts positively while the other three react negatively. As the Straw Hats sail to Wano Country, they find out that Luffy's bounty has increased to 1.5 billion.

Long Summary
At Marine Headquarters on New Marineford, Sakazuki asks about the statuses of the royals heading to the Levely. One Marine reports that pirates attacked the Lulusia Kingdom ship and kidnapped Princess Komane, angering Sakazuki. The ships of Dressrosa and the Prodence Kingdom sail to Levely together, and Rebecca races up to Riku Dold III with Leo, Kabu, and Bian, asking her grandfather if he read the article about Luffy. Dold affirms that he has, and Rebecca's group expresses their excitement over Luffy's accomplishments, but Elizabello II warns them to refrain from expressing such admiration once they reach the World Government's domain. Rebecca then goes to show the article to Viola, but finds that she has read it as well.

Meanwhile, the band of pirates that had kidnapped Komane spies on the Dressrosa-Prodence group from an underwater submarine, and they shoot a torpedo at it. However, Koby dives underwater and redirects the torpedo, saving the royals. The royals still feel the effect of the explosion and are put on guard, but Koby then leaps onto their ship and gets in contact with Helmeppo, who has disabled the submarine, taken out the pirates, and freed Komane. The royals give Koby their utmost gratitude for saving them, and Koby is sheepishly humble in response. When Rebecca approaches him, Koby notices the picture of Luffy on her newspaper and expresses his surprise at seeing him. Rebecca lends him the newspaper to read, and Koby quickly tears up as he reads about Luffy's accomplishments, recalling his life-changing experience with the pirate.

Two years ago, Koby was slaving away on the Alvida Pirates' ship when Luffy suddenly broke out of a barrel some of the crew was planning to drink from. Luffy revealed to Koby that he was going to become the Pirate King, and Koby believed that would be impossible, but Luffy refused to believe that. Koby became slightly bolder as he revealed his own dream to join the Marines, although he was still too scared of Alvida. When Luffy confronted Alvida, however, Koby worked up the courage to stand up to her. Days later, Koby attempted to rescue Roronoa Zoro at Shells Town, and talked about how he wanted to uphold justice as a Marine. After this, he, Luffy, and Zoro were at a bar when the Marines arrived to force the latter two off the island. They wondered if Koby was with them, and Luffy was able to rile up Koby into punching him, causing the Marines to separate them. Koby then asked to join the Marines, and some of them were initially hesitant, but he was accepted as he and the Marines went to thank Luffy and Zoro for their help.

Back in the present, Koby thanks Rebecca for giving him the newspaper, and she asks him if he is friends with Luffy. A flustered Koby attempts to deny it, but Rebecca sees through it and invites him to talk about Luffy with her and the Tontatta. On the Thousand Sunny, Luffy weeps over his new bounty, telling his crew that it was decreased to 150,000,000. Elsewhere, an enraged Kaido reads the newspaper and wonders why Luffy was in Big Mom's territory. On Whole Cake Island, Big Mom is incredulous at how the story claims that Luffy "won" against her, and on another island, Blackbeard says it is still too early for Luffy to be considered an Emperor of the Sea. Meanwhile, Shanks sits alone and smiles, saying the time may soon be near for him and Luffy to reunite. Back on the Sunny, Brook picks up his bounty poster and realizes that Luffy was incorrect; his bounty was actually raised to 1,500,000,000.

Anime Notes

 * The anime adds the following:
 * Rebecca showing Viola the newspaper.
 * Helmeppo attacking the pirates' submarine is shown.
 * Big Mom expressing her rage over the newspaper is shown onscreen.
 * Blackbeard's eye is shown and he activates his darkness powers.
 * The following are extended:
 * The scene of Sakazuki receiving the report of Komane's kidnapping.
 * The scene of Rebecca showing the newspaper to her grandfather.
 * When the pirates who kidnapped Komane saw Viola from their submarine, Rebecca was not beside Viola in the manga. The pirates also say that they were going to kidnap Rebecca as well.
 * The children from Punk Hazard are shown on the newspaper.
 * While not shown in the manga, the anime shows that Mont-d'Or told Big Mom about Morgans writing the article.
 * This episode gives a recap of the Romance Dawn Arc.