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

After months of predicting it basically every chapter, we really do seem to finally be in the wrap-up stage of the battle. I’m not sure if Oda will manage to get Kaido’s fall by the end of volume 103, but it’s probably going to be close, the way things are building at the minute. Imagine what a landmark volume it could end up being if two Emperors fell at once though!

Pudding on the cover has surprising strength to punch the Vinsmokes’ metal skin without hurting herself. Maybe we’ve all underestimated her a little. Or maybe it’s a One Piece classic “Fist of Love.” Just leave that hanging there for the shippers.

The Zunesha thing feels a tad drawn out left as it is. We know there’ll be no contest against those tiny ships when it’s given the order, and the Voice of All Things shenanigans going on imply it can communicate with Momo even at this distance. There’s not really a reason to hang on for the next development like there was when it first showed up so suddenly – the outcome from here is obvious. What is interesting is Yamato calling Momo the one to bring the Dawn (a term that definitely deserves its capital D at this stage) and Momo rejecting his father’s will. The certainty of Momo’s role from Yamato is something to remember for everyone operating under the reasonable assumption that Luffy would be the one (even if in the guise of Joyboy, Nika, or whatever else). And then there’s Momo. I’ve got legitimate respect for him making his own assessment of the state of the world and his father’s goals. Oden was flawed and did make a lot of mistakes in his time, leading to the current state of affairs. There is nothing but courage and maturity in being able to see and acknowledge that when you’re only eight years old and your dad’s death was like a month ago. I know some readers will dismiss him as a coward anyway. I also know the narrative will probably make opening Wano’s borders the right thing to do regardless of this scene. But regardless of all that, I think it’s a great scene for Momo.

From my previous review: “Fuku isn’t going to take a full chapter to deal with. I imagine he’s going down basically the next second he’s onscreen.”

“lol,” I say as we smash cut to the narration confirming Fuku is down. “lmao”

Jinbe saving Raizo is great though. And I’m interested in what this plan is that Raizo is talking about. I hope it gives Denjiro and Kawamatsu their moment in the sun, whatever it is. Those two are the only ones left without any obvious finale or solo moment during the raid. But Denjiro was last seen the castle, I think, and Kawamatsu was down on the Performance Floor, so know knows what it could take to bring them together. My guess is that the plan goes with what Hiyori is doing and ends with Orochi’s downfall.

And speaking of, the moment Hiyori reveals herself seems to bring the Orochi plot thread within one scene of being concluded. I still think Denjiro is the most likely to deliver the killing blow, but who knows what could happen. I do like the seaston nails making a comeback though. We know that different levels of seastone purity can affect how weak the victim is made, but Orochi not noticing he’d been stabbed at all suggests to be you can refine seastone to the point of giving no physical weakness or sensation whatsoever besides turning devil fruit powers off. There’s probably not any wider implication to that, but it’s cool that it exists.

I’ll be honest, I really did expect Izo to take care of the CP0 threat in its entirety. It speaks to their strength that he could only manage mutual destruction with a single one (even if they were both likely already wounded to some degree. I hadn’t even noticed until the call came in that the third member of the group hadn’t gone with the others. I must have imagined him being present for their chase after Robin and the clash with Drake and Apoo. Without names, it’s too easy to think of these guys as a collective rather than three individuals that could act on their own. Drake seems set to finish off the leader (good, he deserves a better ending than his unceremonious defeat a few chapters ago) but that third guy remains out of reach. Maybe he’ll be the one to escape and tell the story of what happened to the Government. And then, who’s going to stop Apoo and Inbi?

I’m no longer a naysayer on the Gum Gum being the fruit. Hard to imagine many other reasons for the sudden switch to targeting Luffy. I’m trusting Oda to make whatever’s going on here work with the story. Over more than a dozen years following this story week to week he’s very rarely let me down, so I’m affording him some trust to develop this idea right.

The Elders’ “Worst-case scenario” sounds pretty specific. Could they be referring to the same mysterious event everyone else calls the Dawn of the World, or is it something else entirely? It kinda implies to me that the important devil fruit has a usecase to fulfill, rather than just being symbolic of a former enemy of the Government.

The sword outside the dome is back to being literally ten storeys tall after shrinking to six for a bunch of chapters. It was still way too big for Kid to have used either way, but after it came up in the last chapter’s thread I’m really cued into the size changes.

Franky saving Zoro is a nice touch. With no sign of the reaper figure around, I get the feeling we’ll have to wait until after the battle when Zoro properly recovers before he tells us what he saw and what it means. But with all of CP0 accounted for this week, we can probably rule out it being a living person we know (long odds for Caribou, but still), and say it actually was either a hallucination or a legitimate spiritual entity. And it could be worth remembering that despite looking a tad bloodied, Franky did his main fight inside his mech 90% of the way. Of all the Strawhats, he might just have the most fighting strength to spare at this point.

Hey, Usopp and Nami are hiding out in the place they first got cornered by Ulti and Pageone. I like that Marco’s still playing healer. And hey, that hole in the Performance Floor is a hell of a lot bigger than it we really got to see it being in the last chapter. But it only makes sense given how big Big Mom got. And look how much the destruction is adding up. The right side is almost completely destroyed (which is consistent with the buildings Big Mom got rammed into, stuck to and had dropped on her in the last couple chapters).

The mini flashback certainly makes the end of Kaido feel close, but I’m putting a lot more stock in Luffy’s “final Gear Four” statement. I don’t think Oda’s going to make a liar out of him at this stage. This is it. But will we get a new form if he’s gone Snakeman now? I’m going to say yes. Sure, we’ve never seen him switch between forms after going into the gear before, but that is a low hurdle to handwave away.

There are as few as four chapters left in volume 103, or as many as six if Oda wants to stretch it into a really long one. It could really be happening in the next handful of chapters. I’m not going to set my hopes too high for a quick resolution with Orochi, Apoo, Inbi and two members of CP0 still on the board, but it’s definitely feeling achievable. I’m started to feel anxious for it! Not just because we’ve been building toward this moment for so long, but also because the end of Kaido means the end of the series’ penultimate battle. Everything that comes after it will be endgame material, and that’s something I have a lot of conflicted feelings about after having One Piece as a constant in my life for so long.