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Our colour pages this week feel like a return to familiar territory. After a long run of both colour spreads and Jump covers being taken up by Film Red promos or Gear Five, we finally get some current-arc outfits on the cover and a more traditional colour spread that looks great, despite the lack of animals. The magazine clipping angle is a new and novel one that came out a treat. Hopefully Oda’s been building up some more unique ideas like this while he was doing all the promotional ones. Hang on though, is Sanji wearing a Garfield shirt? Honestly I could see the off-brand Garf with the ill-fitting slogn going the distance in a round of Jackbox Tee K.O.

This chapter is either the first of volume 107 or the eleventh of 106, and I could see the argument going either way. The opening page reiterating Cipher Pol’s offer is a good note to bring returning readers in on, but a big Shanks appearance makes for a very strong ending note. We might not know this one for sure until we get the next volume’s pagecount.

I really like the interactions between the crew and Cipher Pol at the start of the chapter. Luffy being too trusting and Lucci being too blunt while their partners berate them is really fun stuff. How did Lucci manage to stay undercover for so many years with that big mouth though? Or does Luffy just put him that on-edge.

I think it’s interesting that neither Cipher Pol nor Shaka contradict Zoro when he says there must be four Seraphim on the loose. Presumably because he’s right and S-Crocodile, S-Bat and S-Flamingo are being used elsewhere. No more surprise extra clones. But it means we have to wait to see the younger Crocodile, which I’m a little curious about, given the theories about him.

S-Bear does some serious damage to the lab here. This probably won’t be a super protracted conflict then, given that basically every move so far has caused noticable and lasting damage to the structure. It won’t last through much more! Although we can see the two small buildings by the entry ramp looking mostly unharmed here, so what did the Seraphim’s opening volley even hit?

Would have been nice to see more of the different fighting styles here working in tandem, but it also makes sense that big double hits from fighters on this level would be too much for even the mighty seraphim. Not that it’s confirmed that these two are down for good, of course…

Luffy’s coat managing to fit around him in Gear Four makes it all the more egregious that it magically disappeared and returned when he fought Lucci in Gear Give down below.

The scene deep within the lab certainly changes some things. I really was a believer that the Vegapunks were vanishing Cipher Pol ships to keep news of their illegal research getting back to the Government for as long as possible, but we see here that the Stella at least had no knowledge of it. Who or whatever the enemy is though, what goal are they trying to achieve by keeping all these captured agents alive? And what is the enemy’s motive anyway, seeing as they’ve attacked Vegapunk, the Strawhats and Government operatives all, as well as drawing the Government’s suspicion in the first place? Bonney hasn’t been attacked since reaching the upper lab, it’s worth noting, and may even have been led to Kuma’s memories by the enemy making a machine beep at the right time. But she was attacked directly by the PX III cop that conveniently chased Luffy’s group to the Ancient Robot before, so I’m not convinced the local machines are on her side either.

And then we get some Shanks scenes, which is truly unexpected so soon after his end of Wano cameo. Hey, how many kids in bars has he mentored over the years? Dude’s been planting seeds all over the place. It’s cool that we’re getting to see Shanks having a larger fleet and more Emperor-appropriate organisation structure as well. One of those ships seems to have a Bepo figurehead. Distant relatives maybe? The spread of the Red Haired Crew and the giants is one of the cleanest we’ve had in years. I don’t mind busy pages, but it is nice to see a big picture getting to breathe a little more. And ah, the nostalgia of Dory, Broggy, Oimo and Kashii all being there!

Kid’s showing a lot of confidence challenging Shanks directly with his whole fleet there and the giants willing to back him up. I would probably not bet in his favour.

I’m hoping after the break we’re due for at least one solid clue toward the enemy’s identity or nature, but I’m not holding my breath for an update on Shanks and Kid. Whatever Oda puts in the chapter, if he keeps cooking with the same ingredients he’s been using for the last couple, I’m gonna be happy.