This is more the kind of chapter I expected to come back from the break on. Colour spread. Jump cover. A meaty 19 pages. The climax and conclusion to the cutaway sequence and a promise of seeing the Strawhats in the next chapter. What else could you want?

While this would make a fantastic finale to a volume, the full 12 chapters just doesn’t feel likely given the breaks and how much they must push releases back. But seeing how the battleship bags paid off across two chapters, I don’t think it would be right to split this chapter up from the previous one. We’ll see though. Volume 107 is a long way away, no matter what chapters it’s meant to hold.

The colour spread is a great throwback. Is it wrong to hope for the live action series’ success just to see more spreads that tribute past sagas like this. Actually, Oda should do more of these whether the live action version succeeds or not. I guess this confirms Krieg really is gone though, just like the trailer suggested. It’s cool seeing the early character designs redone in Oda’s current style. Luffy and Sanji in particular actually look a lot younger here than they do in the present day manga, which is fun.

While he’s certainly not gone for good, this chapter still feels like a sendoff for Garp, and it all happens in true Garp fashion – the man is sometimes hard to agree with, but he’s always easy to like. Take the opening flashback to his lecture, Garp’s “right” answer feels cruel and overly utilitarian compared to Koby’s heroic ideals, and I personally can’t get behind his thinking on it. But at the same time, Garp comes across far less hypocritical than his fellow officer that tries to claim they see all lives as equal. The Marines’ bosses higher up in the World Government sure as hell don’t, any of their underlings pretending otherwise are lying to themselves. Garp at least wants to channel the inequality in a way he thinks benefits future generations. And most importantly, he puts his money where his mouth is. When it comes time to choose between the geezer and the youth at the end of the chapter, he sacrifices himself without a second thought, laughing as he does it. You just can’t hate this guy.

This isn’t just Garp’s chapter though, it’s also Koby’s. Just like in the exercise from the lecture, Koby decides the heroic thing is to save everyone except himself. The Amazon Lily scene demonstrates the use of SWORD and the frustrations the regular Marines face over the bureaucracy involved in picking a fight with an Emperor. It’s a good follow-up to the SWORD explanation from a few chapters ago, giving a practical example to make it clearer. Something I’m not seeing Koby being given enough credit for here is how hard he played Blackbeard in this hostage exchange. On a surface level, trading 800 nobodies from the rank and file for a big shot hero must seem like a great deal for Blackbeard, but Koby being SWORD makes him useless as a hostage and bargaining chip. Eight hundred Marines who haven’t signed resignations, who the Government would have a harder time writing off, would actually have given him more to work with. Well, it would have been a smart play, but Koby didn’t count on Garp coming to act out his own philosophies in the real world.

The action here, as we build up to Koby’s really, really big moment, is beautifully drawn and clearly panelled. The spread with Garp punching open the island’s skull has to be one of the best of the year. We get to see a little more of the difference between Pizarro and Pica’s powers here when he takes real damage from the island being hit. Definitely feels like more of a weakness than a boon, but I’m still glad to get more distinctions.

Another flashback brings the battleship bags full circle, and I love how Oda has handled these over the past two weeks. We get them once at the start of the last chapter to hype up Garp and Kuzan’s strength, then a repeat near the end of the chapter that instead uses them to show how the pair’s relationship grew. And that would be enough for a one-chapter gimmick idea. Good enough that you figure they’re done. But then, rule of threes, we get them a final time to show how Koby is on the same path as the two monsters who were fighting last week. And you realise that’s what they were really introduced for and it finally feels truly complete. It’s just good storytelling.

And yeah, Koby smashes Pizarro’s hand and it’s very cool and well drawn. Great moment for his character. The line about living up to his expectations is a banger. Love that Garp can only laugh about it. But the biggest highlight has to be Helmeppo diving in so desperately to save him after. Genuinely very sweet considering how their relationship started.

While Garp’s final scene here looks pretty damn bad, the lack of obvious blood on the icicle makes me wonder if he’s truly impaled on it. And of course he’s just “missing in action.” People seem to be mad about this, adding it to the list of Oda’s frustrating fakeout deaths and whatever. But come on. He couldn’t have done more to tell us that Garp isn’t dead short of an editorial line specifically promising the dude’s return. Where’s the fakeout meant to be? I don’t love how Oda handles death either but this is one of the most honest character sendoffs of the series.

And then, finally finally finally, we make it back to Egghead for the next chapter. I’m so excited to see how the situation’s developed there and see the crew again. Haven’t had a canonical Strawhat appearance since freaking March and I miss them! Looking forward to seeing you all there after the break.