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

While the colour spread is nice-looking artistically (the red and white is a great palette) I can’t be alone in feeling a tad Uta’d out. Three of the last five colour pages have featured her or Film Red, not even thinking of Jump covers. I vaguely recall a report of Oda saying he didn’t want to milk the movie by having its theatrical run last forever, which seems a little at odds with all of this here.

Kuma’s arrival at Red Port is an unexpected development, although evidence suggests it might not have been his intended destination. The explosion and the lack of the paw-shaped crater that accompanied Luffy’s landing make this seem like a miscalculation in his power’s use. But that brings us back to the question from when he first teleported: where is he going? Egghead would make sense, but the Red Port would mean he was flying in the wrong direction, right? Maybe he was aiming for the top of the Red Line instead. But for vengeance or because his old masters’ programming was too strong, I can’t say.

With Atlas already down and Shaka saying the satellites’ duty is to defend the main body, I wonder if we’re going to see more of the clones get hurt in the escape. There’s definitely a sense that they’re being built up to be expendable despite their individualities, but I just don’t see Oda following all the way through on that kind of idea. I also don’t see him actually letting the whole pack of them come on the Sunny too. Someone has to stay behind to do whatever needs to be done to keep Punk Records functioning, so there’s probably a third solution we aren’t seeing yet.

I’m not sure what to make of the switching off of the Frontier Dome. People are being quick to say there’s a traitor in the lab, but it stays off just long enough for Lucci, Kaku and Stussy to separate themselves from the larger Cipher Pol force, and the powerful Seraphim. The mysterious stranger Vegapunk called for help might be trying to divide and conquer.

I shouldn’t have been surprised by a Kid check-in after we got Law so soon, but I definitely didn’t expect him to be given Elbaf. You could maybe do the things that need to be done with Elbaf, Loki and the giants story-wise with them being led into the final battle by a third party, but I’d still rather see the Strawhats actually visit the place. But nothing about the post-Egghead era is certain at that point. Garp and Helmeppo setting up a Koby rescue mission to Fullalead from such a nearby base could be a compelling reason for Luffy to go that way, and there’s a high likelihood that Pudding and Law will also end up there. Meanwhile Vegapunk’s research and Saul’s presence point to Elbaf and Kid. It’s probably not the right answer to split the crew again, but there’s multiple flashpoints popping up and I want to see Luffy involved in all of them!

Egghead will probably start building to a conclusion soon, what with Bonney and Vegapunk set to have their actual confrontation about Kuma and Borsalino’s fleet inbound. This (probably) won’t be a big one. But the next stage for One Piece, be it Fullalead, Elbaf or a third location, has so much exciting potential. Looking forward to seeing the final saga continue to escalate over the new year!