If you want evidence of how in-focus Kuma and his family have been in recent months, look at the list of recent chapter titles. Bonney, Kuma (as himself, “daddy,” “Kumachi” and describing himself as a pacifist) and Ginny are mentioned in every title since chapter 1096. Characters in chapter titles is by no means a new thing, but so many who are so closely related in so many back to back chapters feels like an outlier.

Kuma opens the chapter with a punch that’s well worth the wait, counting both the post-New Years days off and the long flashback build-up to this moment. It’s beautifully composed and drawn as well, full of dynamic speed lines that fully emphasise the impact and with incredibly clean panelling that doesn’t let anyone or anything distract from a moment that had to be all Kuma’s. This is chapter two of 2024 and it’s already guaranteed to be a frontrunner for best panel/spread of the year. One thing I’m not seeing much discussion about is the panel on the bottom right, where we see Saturn’s eye narrow into a glare even as his face folds around Kuma’s fist. Where many are saying Saturn won’t be that much of a powerhouse, relying on regeneration rather than defence and durability, this moment of defiance shows that Saturn knows how to take a punch without losing his focus.

Lucky for us, it’s an incredibly strong punch that sends him flying even if it doesn’t fully break his concentration.

The Marines’ lines emphasising the horror of a slave, at the very bottom of the pecking order, attacking a man at the “pinnacle of the world” makes me think of the Emperor Card game in the excellent Kaiji – in which the emperor dominates the citizen cards, who themselves look down at the slave card. But played right, the slave can be the most powerful card in the game, as it has nothing to lose, and can attack the otherwise immune emperor. For a moment here too, the slave stands taller than any free man. Also Kaiji is something everyone should watch because it’s great.

The self-destruct reveal is a bit weak. It’s not quite the copout I feared when Vegapunk pitched a personality switch in the flashback, but it still feels a little unearned for Vegapunk to have just fooled Saturn so easily after he said he’d check. I wonder if a translation difference could have set the right expectation for how this played out – something like “killswitch” instead of “self-destruct,” so that it could be interpreted as as either a killing mechanism for Kuma or an emergency shutdown on a machine, turning Vegapunk’s move into more of a semantic deception rather than an outright lie told to the audience.

The hug with Bonney isn’t as dramatic as the punch, but it’s just as earned and just as cathartic. Like when she debriefed with Vegapunk after the flashback, Bonney becomes a little girl again to emphasise her vulnerability in the moment. It’s simple, but it takes the father-daughter reunion to the next level.

Love the visceral detail of Saturn’s regeneration. If I had any faith in the anime it’s something I’d be excited to see in motion because you could do some cool, messed up things with it. His powers are still hard to pin down. Even with his body full restored, the paralysis has worn off for the main characters and it’s not clear what steps it will take from Saturn to set it up again. I did enjoy Sanji and Franky getting to casually land hits on him now that Kuma and Bonney have set the precedent.

Borsalino continues to be an enigma. I’m falling on the side of him holding back and giving the crew breathing room when he can get away with it, then fighting seriously when his boss’s eyes are on him. I think he knew, from Kuma’s punch, that there’d be no going back and no slipping out of this one anymore, and the line about darker glasses at the end is a very telling piece of dialogue for the character. I kinda wish the illustration packed it up a bit more though. That would have been a good time to reveal some genuine sadness in his eyes, but he retains his trademark neutrality all the way through.

With the advent of the Buster Call, there’s no chance of this arc not being in its endgame. The question is, how are we going to distinguish this arc from the last time the Strawhats faced one of these? Perhaps we’ll see them mount more of a defence and push back instead of wrapping up their fights and fleeing the burning island. Or maybe the presence of Saturn and Borsalino alone is meant to be this one’s defining features.

I’m setting my hopes high for the next few months. Egghead has been on so many levels a breath of fresh air after Wano, and now it just needs to stick the landing to cement its place among the series’ best. After proving he’s still got it in the flashback department, I’ve got a lot of faith in Oda to bring this one full circle.