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

This was a fun chapter. Things are going well for the alliance, if anything, too well. My mental alarm bells that things are about to start going wrong are ringing, but they’ve been doing that for about half of this volume so far, so it’s probably meaningless. My guess at this point is that the strategy of getting everyone in and encircling Kaido will succeed, but things will take a turn for the south when he actually stands up and starts fighting alongside his underlings.

One of the highlights of the opening scene, aside from all the extra reasons to hate the villains, is Orochi’s incredible terror. Now there’s a villain who really appreciates how bad Luffy’s presence is for him. Quake in your boots, little man. Momo is set for execution by crucifixion. I guess they’ve learned their lesson about oil baths. Will there be a parallel with Yasu’s execution and the gang’s failure to stop that, perhaps?

It felt weird at first that Marco and Catviper didn’t travel together, which was the impression I got at the end of the last chapter. But on a quick reread, I guess it makes sense. Marco and Cat met on the day the Reverie started, and the news that the Warlords were being disbanded and Weevil removed from the picture came out a week later. Being on a time limit and all, there’s no way Cat stuck around that long. And I guess Izo chose to go with him at the time. It’s hard to say who else we should expect to be here, given that no other Whitebeard Pirates commanders were seen at Sphinx and Marco doesn’t appear to have brought a ship. It might just be him and Izo. (And maybe a third character – some have speculated the stripy-robed figure to be the same one seen meeting with Crocus in chapter 631 rather than Izo, but we’ll see.) I’m curious to see what Oda does with Izo as an actual character following his handling of Kiku.

Elsewhere, Denjiro shows off a swole back and Usopp and Chopper (kind of) take on Big Mom. She seems to have taken more damage than expected from the cannon blast to the face, but it’s probably just dust and ash to enhance the ridiculousness of the whole scene. It would be cool to have their retreat take them back to the Rhino Bike for a General Franky VS Big Mom clash, but I think it was implied that Franky was going with the other group and they were going to meet up at the back. Oh, and is Shinobu calling Chopper Chobro as well now? Has she done that before? It’s fun that it’s spreading. Finally, I kinda hope Nami finds a way to tame prometheus as well. That’d really make her a force to be reckoned with.

And at last, the encounter no one was expecting: Luffy meeting Ulti and Pageone. I don’t know if I’m feeling the start of a genuine fight here. The chapter title suggests Luffy and Ulti have more in common than they do different, but a team-up is a million miles from being on the cards, and it’s not like Luffy needs more allies just yet. Very interesting.

And man, Oda totally forgot about the dirt, oshiruko and blood on Luffy’s face in the middle of the last page there. Wonder if that’s getting fixed up for the volume release.

This is a good week to not have a break (aren’t the all thought) because I’m really keen to see where all of this is going.