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

I was anticipating some big developments for the looming end of the hudredth volume, and I sure got them.

At a glance, this chapter seems to pull a 180 on everything we thought was being built up for Nami, with Ulti down and a permanent Zeus powerup off the table. But I’m not so certain the change in plan is gonna stick.

First up, Ulti. It wouldn’t be Onigashima without characters seemingly taken out in sudden, unsatisfying ways jumping back up and getting back in the fight. Even characters who fall in dramatic, protracted and narratively appropriate ways aren’t immune to sudden revivals.

And sure, the lightning laser to the gut looks bad, but this is One Piece. Ulti wouldn’t even be the first Emperor’s executive to get back up from a hit like that. Oven took a hit from Ichiji that seemed at least as bad, and was up and clashing with Aladdin five minutes later.

And then there’s Zeus. Beyond the cop out explanation of homies just being really fucking weird, having Nami’s baton go into Hera’s mouth as Zeus was swallowed gives Oda several ways to justify his return, from the black balls powering him up enough tor eturn, to him hiding inside the baton.

So yeah, until Oda starts building up something else for Nami to do, I’m taking this chapter as misdirection and assuming that taking down Ulti with Zeus is still on the table.

Outside of all that, the character interactions this week were all really fun. From the Strawhats and Big Mom to the homies among themselves, it was all great. I wonder what the people who had a harsh initial reaction to “mother mode” when it first came up thought when she threatened to kill Tama. Even in the chapter it came up, the full context made it clear it wasn’t a personality override, but this really sells that Big Mom is as capricious as ever.

The Hera reveal is the weakest part of the chapter. Her design incredibly flat and plain compared to the other homies and Oda’s usual design standards. She just doesn’t pop out of the page at all. I think she could have used an accessory like Zeus’s little hat to add flair, or have her hair or some other part of her body in permanent dark stormcloud mode to bring a bit more contrast to the design.

Oda appears to be flagging a Kid and Law teamup against Big Mom as her final battle. We know Kid has old beef with her, but Law actually skipped the side trip into Big Mom’s territory. He was the first one to get a hit on her up on the rooftop though. I think this’ll work well long-term though. I can see Kid and Law bickering over who’s more responsible for toppling the Emperor while Luffy gets ahead as the last man standing against Kaido.

And speaking of Luffy and Kaido… I’ve been saying for weeks, even before the CoC development, that with so much of the larger battle left unresolved we were overdue for the tide of the battle to flow back Kaido’s way. I sure did get that. Wasn’t expecting Luffy to be literally blasted off the island though. Interesting seeing how hard Kaido is taking the mistake of not removing his head, and Luffy not living up to his expectations. It echoes the mood swings he gets when he’s drunk. More moments like this are what Kaido needs if he wants to stand any chance in the fanbase’s collective consciousness against the series more memorable villains.

So what happens to Luffy now? It’s anyone’s guess whether Onigashima is over land or sea. Six chapters ago we were certain it was overland and close to the capital. Three chapters ago it was over the sea, with no sign of the coast when Big Mom fell. The only safe bet now is that the environment under the island will be whatever the plot needs it to be.

Of all the available options for getting back in the fight, I think a rescue by Momo is the most likely. He can sense Luffy’s location. He’s currently not doing anything but taking cover. He needs to do something flight related to conquer his fear of heights. He needs a reason to go where Kaido is and confront him again. It would be cool foreshadowing that basically the first thing Momo did after being introduced on Punk Hazard was fly Luffy back into battle after he was dumped in a pit by the main villain. There’s too much setup for this not to happen.

Which is not to say he’ll definitely catch Luffy before he hits the ground/sea. That would probably stretch travel times too much, and if there was someone else to catch him, it could give Luffy some time to recover. Big Mom’s ship, Law’s sub and even the conspicuously absent Zunesha could make good landing sites if over water, and there’s Hitetsu and Caribou going strangely unseen in the war if over land.

This was a hell of a place for a break, especially knowing the next chapter is likely the volume-ender, but it’s definitely keeping me hooked. Hopefully we at least get the volume 99 cover to tide us over on break week.