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

This chapter was a pretty good note to end the year on, but I’m gonna keep this brief because I’m pretty wiped from a weekend of Christmas events.

Mads are looking cool on the cover. Something about Vegapunk trying to be tough with that ridiculous head and his eyebrows sitting so high just gets me. I guess Caesar’s silhouette lacking horns a couple of chapters ago was a mistake then? The woman has to be Stussy, she knows too much about Vegapunk’s defenses for the resemblance to be a coincidence.

The big set piece of the chapter’s first half feels good in concept, but the execution isn’t quite there to make leaving Sentomaru behind feel believable. Was it really that tight that all of Luffy’s new powers couldn’t pick the guy up and move him fast. A better sense of the space and timing for the rocket departure point, or a last minute play from Cipher Pol he could sacrifice himself to disrupt, or a moment when we see he and Atlas won’t fit and he says to save the Vegagirl instead might have helped. The elements of the ‘why’ are there, but it could have been just a little clearer. But we can forgive this one being done quickly to set up the back half of the arc, where a safe retreat has cost the heroes the strongest weapons on the island and the Strawhats and Vegapunks have cornered themselves for a siege in the upper lab while Navy reinforcements bear down for their attackers. It’s a scenario One Piece hasn’t really done before, and though I’m not expecting a huge, complicated battle from Egghead, I’m curious to see how it plays out.

I’m not a huge fan of the Love Love power still working so well on the child S-Snake. Yuck. I would say we need a soft retcon of what kind of emotional response can trigger the fruit’s power, but the faces of the government agents don’t leave much up for interpretation. Unless that group was Cipher Pol’s designated gulag squad of degenerates, there should be no reason that many grown men in one place should have that kind of reaction to a literal child.

On the flip side, the talk about artificial devil fruits is fascinating, and the confirmation of abilities being taken down from Impel Down inmates is huge for the kinds of battles we can expect in the final stage of the story. The green blood is especially interesting, since it seems like it can be used to transfer powers without the consumption of a fruit, perhaps even temporarily.

I also loved how Luffy fought with Gear Five this week. Coming off the ropes after turning the environment to rubber was always anticipated for his awakening, but the big funhouse head is a surprise. Manifesting goggles puts a new light on the talk of imagination becoming reality though. I’m gonna wait and see until Oda elaborates or puts some firmer limits on that one.

Vegapunk mentioning near the end that he never intended to betray the World Government, despite his ties to dragon, is a tad disappointing. Be a bit bolder, old man! Help your mate tear down the world’s power structures and set up new ones where the sciences get adequate funding instead of arming fascists because they let you do your experiments!

A real fight with Borsalino isn’t off the table this far into the series, which is amazing to me. How far we’ve come! And I suppose the call to send all available battleships to Egghead is how the new and old faces hanging out at G-14 are going to be entering the arc for real. Helmeppo and Tashigi seeing Luffy and Zoro again should be interesting, especially if the bomb about Koby’s status is dropped.

Merry Christmas all, Happy New Year, and I’ll see you all after the breaks for what’s feeling like a it’ll be a great 2023 for One Piece.