Find a video version of this review on YouTube here.

Okay, we’re back, and despite the hype of a long-awaited Vivi appearance, this feels like a slow, transitional chapter with a lot of plot threads and mysteries building, but very little in the way of real answers.

It’s good seeing Sentomaru has a little more to do in this arc than be just a one-scene callback, though the origins of the PX-III line’s bubble shields certainly raise some questions. And assuming the original Pacifistas from back then are the MK. I versions, what did the MK. II ones look like? We also definitely need some clarification about whether these Pacifista follow the same authority hierarchy as the Seraphim. Because with 50 of them on the loose, Saturn is going to make this a pretty terrible situation for the crew when he arrives, as many of us have already predicted.

I’m glad Oda’s taking the time to show how much even a brief activation of Gear Five wore Luffy out, even knowing that this effect is probably going to be applied selectively from this point on (and even if we’re pretending he’s just puffed out from running around on foot).

Vegapunk does seem to have well and truly vanished from the lab. Before the break I thought the narration might have just meant the larger group lost track of him while he was with Bonney, but he’s nowhere to be seen when she comes out of the memory bubble. Might be that whoever hijacked the Frontier Dome picked him up. Contrary to most speculation, I don’t think the insider here is going to be one of the Vegapunks. On the assumption that the enemy behind the walls has grabbed the Stella, most of the clones are accounted for during the window of opportunity. Shaka was in the control room with the Strawhats, Atlas was being repaired and Edison and Lilith were rushing to the front to hijack the Seraphim. I think we can also rule Pythagoras out, seeing him attacked at the end of this chapter. York doesn’t have an alibi, but I’m just not convinced.

(Although I will admit Caribou is a compelling alternative culprit for Vegapunk’s disappearance…)

Speaking of Atlas and Pythagoras, I think the former’s quick repair job is reason enough not to worry for the latter. No matter how robotic these clones are and how rough the government gets with them, Oda seems them as human enough to preserve in his usual fashion.

Zoro and Brook getting proper Egghead outfits is nice. The helmet on Brook is fun, but that jacket is a great fit on Zoro. Stussy’s change just serves to reiterate the difference in how male and female character designs are being treated in this arc though. It’s not even a unique pervy outfit, she’s basically just wearing the same thing as Nami. What a choice, for the jacket to be cropped up to her pits so it doesn’t obscure any of that vital sideboob. Her original outfit was a much better design in my opinion.

All that grumbling aside, the panel after the outfit reveals is one of the best in the arc. Because it’s not just a panel, it’s a whole scene playing out in one frame, with something like sixteen characters all doing different things and playing off one another. The compositional awareness to spread so many characters across the fore, middle and background, to lead the eye across the page so that the interactions make sense and play out properly, is just stunning. It’s the kind of spread few artists are willing to try on this scale, and fewer still could actually pull off on the same level.

Loved seeing the crew convincing Zoro to stay behind. Great character interactions. Good laugh.

The start of Kuma’s memories doesn’t offer much more than tantalising hints. I feel like the implication is that he was a slave once. Can’t wait to see how Oda reconciles that with his present day reputation. And the tragedy of ending up right back where he started, assuming that is the case. The cutaway to the Redline seems to suggest that whatever his mission is there, it relates more directly to his past than it does anything that happened at the Reverie or with the Revolutionaries.

A Morgans-Wapol-Vivi teamup was not on my One Piece bingo card, but I’m a fan of it happening. I hope we get to see the circumstances that led to Wapol of all people taking Vivi in instead of handing her over to climb his own ladder. Following the pattern of the last few outside-Egghead cutaways, I’m not expecting any follow-up on this in the near future. But it’s great setup, and good just to know Vivi’s alright.

(The newsgirl with the crush on her in the back is a cute touch too!)

With the next chapter likely to be the end of volume 106, I’m hoping for a big reveal to pay off all this slow building. Maybe a just shift into the Egghead endgame with Borsalino and Saturn’s arrival. And if we’re really lucky we might even get the volume 105 cover alongside the chapter (or its spoilers) and potentially see some canon colours for the island or the new outfits.