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

Alright, we all knew it was coming, but holy shit that was brutal. A lot more graphic than I expected it to be, especially the random mook who fell in early on. One Piece has never necessarily shied from dark scenes, but I feel Oda has previously tended to show only the start then cut away when something as horrible as a live boiling happens. I wonder if the recent success of darker-feeling series like Kimetsu and The Promised Neverland gave him a bit more confidence in showing the rough stuff.

The flashbacks at the end of the chapter do a lot to put the last few installments of the story into perspective. I think it’s particularly important that we see Oden and Kaido clashing in an apparent stalemate when he attacked the palace. It’s interesting how both sides of that conflict seemed to have come away with a healthy respect for the other’s threat level. Kaido acknowledged that Oden might have been able to beat him if he got all his samurai and yakuza together back then while Oden took a peaceful solution and even when he did choose to fight, chose the uncharacteristically underhanded option of planning to assassinate Kaido while he was drunk. A shame that couldn’t have worked out. And it really goes to show how desperate and terrifying it must have been when Kaido turned out to be waiting in ambush.

Structurally though, I’m not completely jazzed on how everything is coming together. I don’t think the surprise, after-the-fact stakes raising for the ambush adds any more benefit than the full force “oh shit” moment we would have had if we’d known the full context when it first happened. Similarly, the reason for the dancing was close enough to most reasonable guesses that it didn’t really floor me as a reveal. I understand that Oda probably wanted us to feel like the Wanoese citizens – frustrated with Oden’s strange choices then coming to regret that we ever doubted him when the full story came out. I get it. But I’ve spent enough time with Oda’s storytelling not to doubt Oden in the first place. It didn’t feel like the intended journey. It felt more like an eye-rolling “I told you so” reveal. I think I would have liked the frustration of knowing the reasoning while it was happening and feeling unable to do anything about it, as Oden did, more than what we got.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think the flashback is bad or anything. I’m having a good time. I just don’t really feel like jumping around the timeline and delivering info out of order has delivered any real benefit over just telling the story chronologically in this case.

Kaido himself is proving to be an interesting character mostly by way of how little we know about him despite his prominence in the story. There’s so little backstory. Suicidal Kaido, emotional drunk Kaido and the just wants a laugh at the public execution Kaido could almost be three different characters. I’ve given up hope of learning more about him in this flashback, but I am looking forward to what comes up before the arc ends.

And speaking of the flasback ending, there’s still so much to do. Dog and Cat aren’t quite enemies yet. Kaido and Momo haven’t had their one on one, nor have we been given anything to back up Kin’s statement that Kaido wanted info about the Poneglyphs from the Kozuki family. And to top it all off, Oden hasn’t yet delivered the “born to boil” line from Zou and still seems to be at least an hour from death. It’s hard to imagine that moment being anything other than the last spread of a chapter, but it’s also hard to imagine the boiling going on another 17 pages without losing its impact. It’s actually starting to feel plausible that the flashback could make it to the end of the volume at this point.

Heard we’re getting a colour spread next week (well, this Friday), I usually don’t think these kinds of things a realistic to hope for, but it’d be cool to get one just for Oden and the Scabbards, especially given what a big event it’s likely to be.

Another strong chapter overall, only issues are how it fits in with the rest structurally, but who knows, maybe it’ll all flow a bit easier in the archive binge.