This text was originally written for Arlong Park forums’ discussion thread.

Wow, what a chapter this turned out to be. I think we can safely call this the finale of volume 93, then?

It has to be acknowledged at this point that Oda’s attitude towards death has shifted. I don’t see any satisfying way for Yasu to still be alive, and while he is a meaningful figure dying a meaningful death, it’s obvious a whole different thing to the likes of Whitebeard and Ace. This definitely doesn’t mean its all over for Vergo, Monet, Pedro, Pound, Pekoms and Absalom, but it does improve the chances that a few of them could stay down and never been seen again. But despite being so surprise, Yasu’s death is a hard hitting tragedy. Not only that, it’s freaking brutal. He doesn’t get to stay hanging on his crucifix like the martyr he is, he falls and crumples into a broken, mundane heap on the ground. Maybe talk about Oda’s love of Game of Thrones is getting overdone, but the comparison has to be made to last week’s episode, which also featured an execution in which the corpse was left callously to plummet. It’s pretty full-on stuff. And worse, reading from a met perspective, we know Yasu’s sacrifice hasn’t even brought our heroes close to winning the war – only a step away from losing it. As Greg has been mentioning in his thread, the crew still seems too strong for this to be the darkest hour of Wano. Despite Yasu’s sacrifice, things are going to get as bad as this again and then worse before its all over. Will it take another life to turn things around then?

My favourite part of the Oden flashback at the start of the chapter is the backgrounds. Look at how lush and scenic Hakumai is compared to the wastelands we’ve seen so far in Wano. This was a beautiful place before Kaido and Orochi polluted it. Hopefully we get to see it restored to at least a little of its former glory before the crew moves on. In fact, the art was great all the way through the chapter. Those scenic shots of the view from the crucifix are amazing, and the crowd shots are spectacularly detailed. Once again the mix of a forced smile and genuine anguish on Toko’s face is brilliant, but the random Ebisu locals in the crowd don’t look quite as good.

I also really like that the story is playing with the social politics of Wano, showing how even the people outside the plan are being made to gradually lose faith in their leader. I’m sure that will be key to victory later on, maybe moreso than the dedicated rebels being recruited actively, and I can’t wait to see how it all plays out. Very curious to see where the Smile thing goes as well. Those things were first mentioned around when, Sabaody? More than a decade of build-up, a red herring with Dressrosa, to make us think that was the end of their significance, and now they’re finally coming fully into play? Colour me excited!

The one big complaint of the week is travel times. Zoro’s group makes it to the capitol how exactly? That shack they were in must have been right on the boarder of Ringo, and even then it’s a stretch. And how long has Chopper’s group been travelling to the prison for, comparatively? You could say I’m nitpicking, but if Oda didn’t want me keeping track of where people were he shouldn’t have drawn a map, damn it!