Well that’s an escalation I wasn’t expecting to see for at least a few more chapters. It can’t be emphasised enough how brisk the Egghead Pacing is compared to Wano. A problem for the crew like Bonney being stuck down below is raised in chapter 1092 and by just 1094 she’s been rescued and is already being pulled into more important events. The breaks make it all feel like it’s taking longer than it is, but this kind of thing was taking half a volume worth of one panel at a time updates to get done just a year and a half ago. The binge read of Egghead is going to so refreshing comparatively.

There’s some great art for the Jump cover and colour spread this week. Can you imagine if this spread had come out during Wano though? I can only imagine the theories and headcanons and expectations that would have been raised from it.

The scene of the Pacifistas turning on the Marines actually manages to be pretty intense. Oda’s done a good job of not letting these guys feel like fodder, so I have no problem believing that the ability to control them equals control of the battlefield. It would be easy for the power scale of have slipped enough that you wonder how especially first gen Pacifistas were an effective countermeasure against the Whitebeard Pirates at Marineford (and the ease with which Luffy, Zoro and Sanji wiped out two of them for the Sabaody reunion edged on this) but instead they remain consistently threatening as an army more than a decade on.

Sanji sensing Bonney and Vegapunk questioning the scientific validity of his radar is definitely one of the better jokes the series has made of his womanising nature.

I’m still not expecting a full set of fights for these vice admirals, but glimpsing their different Devil Fruit powers and personalities in scenes like Bonney’s one here helps make the scale of the world feel bigger. Oda doesn’t let his characters get away with being nobodies.

And then it happens. I was expecting a slow arrival for Saturn, escorted carefully onto a secured part of the island with some kind of honourguard, not for him to teleport abruptly into the middle of the action with crazy magic powers. And he kills so casually in his bizarre yet intimidating transformed state. I had reservations about the Five Elders being combatants instead of just politicians, but if this is the kind of appearance and entrance we can expect from them all, then I’m on board. I don’t even know what kind of being to say he even is yet. I’ve seen some possibilities thrown around that seem compelling after googling the names, but after Nika, there’s a precedent for important Zoans being based on in-universe deities with whatever powers Oda needs them to have.

Meanwhile Luffy finally lands a solid hit on Borsalino. It’s definitely not the end of the fight though, not by a long shot, even if Borsalino takes a chapter or two to shake off the hit and make it back from where he’s been thrown. And that’s terrifying, actually. I was expecting Saturn’s arrival to wait until Borsalino was mostly or totally beat, maybe forcing an exhausted Luffy into a retreat. Now we’ve got a seemingly haki-spent Luffy with two high level opponents ready to fight him. He could barely keep Borsalino from breaking off to complete his Vegapunk assassination mission when it was one on one. We haven’t seen enough to for sure if there was any hope of taking them both on together in a straight fight (I doubt it) but when the win condition is more complicated, the odds start to seem impossible.

Finally, we get another little hint at what’s coming in Kuma’s flashback, positining the Elders, or at least Saturn, as the guilty party behind Kuma’s mind being wiped. This offers another compelling reason Kuma might have searched through Marie Geoise and abruptly left, if it’s personal between him and Saturn. His arrival on Egghead with a will to fight could end up being the thing that makes it possible to protect Vegapunk while dealing with Borsalino and Saturn both.

Bonney’s attack feels rash, but I’d be willing to bet she’s saved Vegapunk’s life here. We saw what Saturn can do with a glance. He’s not fucking around here. Which means every moment someone is keeping his attention elsewhere is a better chance of Vegapunk’s head not being exploded. She’s definitely going to need a rescue sooner rather than later next chapter though. Good luck, Sanji!

Moments like this are what really makes the endgame feel like it’s in motion for this series. It gets so hard to predict where we could be in a chapter’s time when so much is happening at once in each chapter. And, as at the end of every installment lately, I hope we’re back onto the normal schedule now so we can all enjoy more of this good stuff while it’s coming.