This was a cool way to bring things back to the “main” plot, however we’re quantifying that at this stage of the story. It’s a very recappy chapter, but it uses the time it’s taking to go over everything to set up and subvert the reader’s expectations. I think we all knew we weren’t going to come back to Egghead exactly where we left off. Even as far back as Dressrosa it’s been apparent that when Oda does back and forth cuts, time continues to pass offscreen and fights develop even while we’re not looking at them, and through Wano it was extremely obvious. The mix-up here is that where I think most of us were expecting to come back to a worst case scenario, we instead find the Strawhats completely on top of things. York’s message builds up the expected scenario, walking through her villainous demands like she’s got her way. The only hint something’s amiss is the blood and dirt on her face in the close-up. And then we twist it around and show the reality of things. It’s genuinely very well executed.

But I have structural questions. Because don’t I always. Is there still going to be an escape (the Stella still has his backpack ready to go), or is the bigger picture for this arc to stand and fight? I still don’t see why the cutaway happened at the moment it did. It feels random. Where it would make sense to change scenes and build suspense at a darkest hour, only Franky’s group and Vegapunk Stella were truly in dire straights when we last saw them. I’m trying to pin down what mood, or what emotional impact Oda was going for when he chose that point to spend a volume away from that moment and I’m still coming up blank.

But I feel confident we’ll be getting at least a dot point version of the Strawhats’ lost day in the coming chapters. Questions like why Lucci is still on their side and what happened with Bonney in Kuma’s memory beg answers, even if we’re not going to see the full Seraphim battles play out.

And from the perspective of volumes, this wouldn’t make a bad opener for volume 108, should the previous one stretch out to 12 chapters. But I’m still not betting on it. It works just as well as a reintroduction to Egghead after so long away, whether at the front of a book or not.

Anyway, it’s always nice seeing more of the world and the ways they react to the bigger picture stuff. In particular because there’s more going on than just a bounty update. And I’m a big fan of showing explicitly that the WG’s eleventh hour super weapon has devastating global consequences that will follow ever single use of it from now on. That’s good, stakes raising stuff. Gives a way to threaten all the scattered locations we’ve become attached to all at once. And hey! An explanation for the Ennies Lobby ocean hole! I was so ready to write that off as just a piece of One Piece weirdness, but all these years later we’re starting to see the deal with it.

Now, the claim from its arc that Ennies Lobby has stood for centuries rules out it being the former site of God Valley, which is an easy first connection to make. But we can also rule out God Valley’s disappearance being a Mother Flame (hey, Viz updated their translation here, wonder if they got word from above) thing at all, given that the narration confirms the earthquakes resulting of Lulusia’s destruction are unparalleled in recorded history. So there’s another way to get rid of an island out there. Oh, and the one big difference between Ennies Lobby and Lulusia: the eternal day. I wonder if that represents some inherent difference between Vegapunk’s version and the way this weapon was used in the Void Century.

It’s not lost on me that the World Nobles, high up on the Redline, are more or less immune to the results of their own weapon. The sea level won’t reach them without thousands of activations, and we can see in Imu’s panel that the reverberating earthquakes are more of a light trembling.

It comes to mind, especially with Momonosuke’s panel in the chapter, that old Wano’s walls might not have been to repel invaders as much as they were to future proof against the rising sea. What irony then, that they ended up flooded by the very barriers designed to keep their feet dry.

The vice admirals that have shown up here are a fun bunch of designs. Everyone online loves Doll and the chin guy, but I’m a big fan of the dude with the stripe in his beard, especially seeing his… uh… headpiece? Franky-style haircut? Half a chakram just lodged up there? Hope there’s room in the arc to give these guys some screentime and personalities to match their appearances.

Borsalino’s little flashback gives us another strange example of a One Piece character whose hair has darkened as they age instead of lightened. First Kin’emon in Oden’s flashback, and now him. Could be that they both decided to dye it, but is blackening hair really that far outside suspension of disbelief for a world like this? Either way, Borsalino remains true to his motto of lazy justice. He has to know the scenario is unfair. He has to feel something about being ordered to kill Vegapunk and Sentomaru. But to openly care, to make yourself into something other than the order-following blunt instrument of tyrants, means putting the effort in to stand up and speak up, and living a harder life unsupported by the system. True justice is hard work. It takes the effort of thought and interpretation just to decide what you think it’s meant to be. Justice bound by the word of the law rather than the spirit, and directed by higher authorities with no room for interpretation by its enforcers? Well, that’s easy. Don’t even have to think about it, just have to do it as directed.

I don’t have much to make of Saturn’s dismissal of Bonney, but I’m sure it’s sunk a few theories about her heritage or true age or plans to use her fruit to be immortal or something. But wait, what benefit did she have for them before?

We covered York’s message and the reveal in the opening paragraphs, so I just want to close by acknowledging what a great final spread we have here. It does a great job of painting a picture of an arc coming to its end, even though there hasn’t even been an arc yet. Really well composed and drawn.

I’m really happy to be back with the Strawhats from next chapter, whether we’re pushing forward with the battle against the Government or flashing back to see how we got where we are now. And I’m very much looking forward to being far enough into this arc to look back and have a better understanding of why it’s been cut and broken up the way it was.