This chapter really wants to give Vegapunk’s message space to resonate and lean hard on the idea that it’s something that impacts the whole world. It definitely slows things down on the weekly read, but it’s probably going to be best for the long-term pacing and story structure to make sure this section has gravitas. Months or years from now, whenever we all end up doing our Egghead rereads, we’ll be glad this came on slow.

Just something to keep in mind through another break week.

We start with an idea of the route and ultimate goals of Yamato’s cover story. These things don’t always go the way they’re initially set up to be, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a disruption from this path in a few chapters’ time. What worries me here is the emphasis on Yasuie. If there’s one character from Wano I could see Oda yet again reviving, like he did with Pound in Bege’s cover story, it would be this guy. Yeah, his death looked pretty certain at the time, but remember he was carried off to be buried by the traitor Kanjuro, who I believe at some point expressed some kind of desire to use Yasuie’s afro as paint brush bristles. If Yasuie was even barely alive after being shot (and falling) Oda has set up both the means and motive for him to have made it to the present. Remember you heard it here first.

There’s a few nuggets of information to glean from the global reactions throughout the chapter. The Water Seven segment suggests that whatever’s causing this goes beyond just the rising tides they deal with. So it might be more than just the Mother Flame holes like where Lulusia used to be displacing the water. Doflamingo hints at the idea of fleeing to Marie Geoise like he knows what’s up. But on the other hand, we have Shalria never having heard of the Void Century, which says a lot about how much the average Celestial Dragon knows about what’s up.

We also get Saul! Yay! And can we put to rest the idea that he’s the burn scar man now? Sure, we don’t see his face, but if the assumption is that he was either burned by the flames of Ohara or took an ice burn when Kuzan froze him, we’d be able to see evidence of that on his arms and legs too.

And the real man of the chapter: Chou Chou the dog back for the first time since his chapter 619 cover story appearance. Love that Boodle even put Chou Chou’s face on his transponder snail.

Getting into the meat of the chapter, I feel like a little too much stock is put on Vegapunk’s earthquake prediction by the world’s skeptics. I mean, you’re taking him at his word that the message is pre-recorded. I could video myself reading a summary of this chapter and claim I did it weeks ago and perfectly predicted everything. Ah, but I’m nitpicking.

It’s great seeing even more of the Strawhats combining their powers against Saturn, even if it’s over so soon. I don’t have any trouble filling in for myself the other Elders reminding him the broadcast should be the priority and moving him alone, but the transition from him baring down on the lab to being in human form in the Mother Flame room is very abrupt. The darkness in the chamber suggests it’s deep inside the building, not something that can be reached with only a few seconds of smashing. The art for that spread though. That is a stunning machine. And we finally see the fire that powers the whole island. It’s drawn similar to the little coil of flame that burns on the Seraphim’s shoulders, isn’t it? Not to mention the thoroughly discussed resemblence to the murals Enel found on the moon. They’re one of my most anticipated things to learn more about.

Edison’s plan to save the Sunny is clever, I’ll give it that. Despite knowing Vegapunk set the whole thing up himself, I hadn’t thought the answer could be to just make more clouds. We’ll see if he gets pull it off though. It’s always dangerous to discuss a plan so fully so far from its execution.

I didn’t expect Luffy to be back in Gear Five so soon. Even accounting for the food power up for the giants, Oda’s kinda selling short the one weakness this form is meant to have. It wouldn’t fully shock me if Luffy had originally been planned to stay powered down, but the plan was changed last minute either to match him up with Joyboy or because he needs to be in Gear Five for the ancient robot to keep moving.

And finally, Joyboy hints, let’s go! I think the parallel with Luffy making the giants laugh would have worked better if he wasn’t doing the exact same giant flaming sore hand gag he did literally two chapters ago. Come now, Oda, you’ve got more jokes in you than that. But the first pirate; now that is some interesting lore. Of course, in the real world ‘pirate’ basically just means ‘sea criminal,’ so Joyboy probably wasn’t the first of those. There have been people stealing from others on the water for as long as there’s been boats, and there’s no way the ancient civilisation got to Vegapunk’s technology level without working out seafaring. So obviously we’re going to be looking at a more One Piece-y definition of the term, almost definitely much more akin to Luffy and Roger’s freedom-focussed idea of piracy.

The break for next week hurts, as does my suspicion that we’re getting close to the end of Vegapunk’s lore dump. I don’t think Oda means to give away too much of Joyboy’s life before we get the full flashback. Maybe some cliff notes leading into the ancient kingdom’s name before one of the Elders finally pops the snail. But we’ll see. I’ve been wrong before and I’d certainly love to be wrong now.