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

I feel like now that the big reveal’s done, Oda’s just trying to see how far he can push this thing – and it’s so fun! I don’t think we’ve seen this much creativity in the way Luffy’s body changes shape in literally years. What can you say except that there’s nothing in the world quite like One Piece. Although, I’m curious to see how this whole sequence holds up on a reread. Without having to wait a week for each chapter, things are going to swing extremely fast from an optimistic move into the final stage of the fight, to the surprise KO and Luffy’s apparent death, and back to the lightest and funniest things have been since the raid begun. What are future readers going to think of the tonal yo-yo at the end of volume 103?

The painted look on the Jump cover is pretty cool, but I was hoping to see Gear Five in full colour. We’re told in the chapter that Luffy’s hair and clothes have turned white – but does that include his shorts, sandals and the sash at his waist too, or only the shirt that’s the only thing to have visibly changed in the black and white version? The colour spread is a tad understated, but still has a few cute details like half the crew chasing Luffy’s hat while Robin grabs it effortlessly, Zoro seeming to sit cross-legged while actually hanging off the side of the truck, and an extra stylish new kimono for Jinbe.

Kaido noticing that some of Luffy’s abilities aren’t typical to the stated nature of his fruit and spelling it out very clearly is the kind of detail I would have liked to see more of before the reveal. One Piece is so generally goofy and so flexible with the definitions and limits of its powers that it was too easy to dismiss unexplained special moves as just part of Oda’s style and move on.

It is amazing how quickly the weather’s been changing over the course of this fight. When Luffy got beat, it was overcast. Last week, the sky was totally clear. On page three of this chapter, there’s a few clouds circling, and by page six, it’s completely overcast with flashes of lightning. We did see back in Act One of Wano that Kaido’s dragon form tends to bring its own storm as it flies around, but Oda’s definitely just doing whatever he thinks will be most dramatic. It wouldn’t be a problem if the Minks’ Sulong hadn’t made the changing amounts of cloud clover a big plot point several times already. (Marineford went from clear skies to all clouds over the course of a chapter but no one would notice or care because no part of that arc draws your attention to the sky – except maybe debates about whether people whose shadows Moria took during the battle should have died right away in the sunlight)

Luffy going Giant and falling from the sky is an amazing spread and will definitely go down as a defining moment for this arc and the future of the series. Whatever your opinion on the latest chapters as a whole, that’s not a panel anyone’s going to forget anytime soon.

What I think is interesting about the whole Giant sequence is how Oda manages to mostly avoid showing the straw hat while Luffy’s big. The best we get is a scribbly silhouette while he plays jump rope with Kaido (seen below) but it’s too vague to say if it’s grown to fit him or not. Why’s that important? Well, a few years back there was that one really big hat that might just fit on the head of a guy Giant Luffy’s size. But on the other, the rest of his clothes grew along with his body no problem, so we don’t have that much reason to think the hat wouldn’t too. Oda must know what he’s doing making it so ambiguous.

I like that Oda gives us a moment of calm in the middle of all the fighting, and a bit of downtime from the silliness. Luffy runs low on energy, but so does Kaido, grunting and panting and leaning on his club for support. It’s such a small thing, but it speaks volumes about how far Kaido’s been worn down already. The difference in the two fighters’ philosophies is great too. Death completes a man, but wouldn’t you rather be an incomplete man than a complete skeleton? It reminds me of Usopp’s speech on Bushido a little while back. An ideology of life and doing well with your time on the earth, not just your ending, trumps a desire to simply die every time.

I’m a tad worried for Luffy after this fight. Not only has his body been abused worse than we’ve ever seen, it’s pretty likely that Gear Five has some severe consequences. Gear Two burned his lifespan more quickly. Gear Three shrunk his body after use. Gear Four burned out his haki. What fuels Gear Five, and is it connected to Momo noticing Luffy’s voice fading when he slips out of gear during the reprieve?

I haven’t written about the actual beat by beat action of this chapter much because what can you say? It’s some of the most creative and visually unique fighting to ever grace a shonen manga. I’ve never seen this kind of playful rubber hose cartooniness mix with a series as story-drive as One Piece before. But it is a tad difficult to analyse by any existing metric. Luffy obviously feels pain from the huge blow that reshapes his head, but it’s harder than ever say how much damage and of what kind it really is. Taking one of Kaido’s swings head-on is never good, but I have no idea if it’s still as capital B Bad as it when we first arrived on the roof.

This chapter marks the first possible end point for volume 103, which is going to be one hell of a meaty volume for big plot developments. That said, I do want to see what the next chapter looks like before I call this volume spoken for. The cartoon fight and Giant Luffy make for an incredible climax, but I think we could go for a bit more drama for a final panel.

While I still obviously have a couple of reservations about the big Gum Gum development, a week to stew on it and this chapter’s incredible visuals have gone a long way for my appreciation of what it is and what Oda is trying to do with it. Luffy is still Luffy. This is just a Luffy with his strength, flexibility and control over his body amped up to the absolute maximum (hey, could he have achieved similar results with Cipher Pol’s Life Return technique?), plus a wave of euphoria that definitely has something to do with Joyboy, but also that you can imagine anyone feeling if they suddenly got a second wind and burst of strength after being beaten as soundly as Luffy had just been. (Point of comparison: Luffy smiling, jumping around and clapping after Kuma took his pain, even though his last conscious memory should have been an overwhelming enemy bearing down and the whole crew’s survival had not yet been confirmed.) Different interpretations and fan translations that exaggerated the influence of Luffy’s imagination to make him feel like an actual reality warper really muddied the waters last week, but this chapter goes a long way to make clear what Luffy’s current powers are and where his influence ends. The value of waiting and seeing.

I think next week we’re going to start seeing the setup for the Momotaro scene everyone’s been anticipating for. The fight is definitely not over yet, no more than the Doflamingo fight was when Luffy completely dominated him with Gear Four for two chapters. Kaido’s probably going to start adapting to Luffy’s new way of fighting and making his final push (or find some other way to raise the stakes back up, like revealing that Onigashima is in place over the capital and ready to drop), which should ease the minds of those complaining that he doesn’t feel like a threat anymore. Whatever happens, I’m strongly looking forward to it, as always!