The idea of arcs and sagas as a two-tier approach to story structure exists mostly in fan wikis rather than officially released material, but it was an effective way to show how a lot of the overarching pre-timeskip stories came together over multiple islands. Post-timeskip, that model became largely irrelevant as everything started to point towards Wano as one massive saga made up of old-saga-length arcs. But here we are again, at what can only be described as the start of a new saga, for the first time in a dozen years.

Yes, Egghead has a self-contained story locked to its local setting, as all arcs in all sagas have, but as the crew sails away from its ending, we realise how much is left up in the air. Bonney and Kuma got symbolic blows in on the architect of their suffering and are out of immediate danger, but they don’t yet have a place to settle. I was a little surprised that this final act of Egghead didn’t address more directly how much of Kuma’s mind can still be salvaged. This chapter raises questions about what death means for a consciousness as fragmented as Vegapunk’s, and what the implications are of a satellite surviving instead of the stella. The Seraphim remain a threat, beaten only offscreen using easy-win technology the crew won’t have access to again. Overarching villains have been teased, but circumstances aligned to prevent a direct confrontation. It’s like being at the end of, say, Whiskey Peak again. Act one of something much, much bigger.

The cover story’s quick resolution to the kids’ assault on Yamato rings true to the way Oda has tackled themes of prejudice in the past. Think of Hody, who harboured all this hatred based only on the stories told to him by the adults in his life. He was too far gone, but these kids are young enough to have their horizons broadened if other influences are offered. Putting hate to rest by getting to know each other over food and drink feels like a very One Piece thing to do.

But does Oda intend to test this idea by giving Yamato an enemy who won’t be so easily brought to the table?

The opening scenes ease in slowly, (enough so that I wonder if this could be the start of volume 111 instead of the last chapter) and let the fallout of the last chapter’s ending simmer, but S-Snake’s consciousness is a detail worth noting. Are the Seraphim that strong, or are they instead that inhuman?

And in a key example of why I didn’t try to fit an Egghead reread and full arc review in last week, Vegpaunk’s flashback comes right in on the home stretch to fill in gaps and provide the bigger picture. Weekly reading can be tough. You just don’t have the full story until you have the full story.

But the timing’s good for this actually. My copy of volume 106 came in last week and obviously got a read when it did, and a lot of the stuff here builds on things in that volume.

Vegapunk’s personality comes through hard here, and it’s been consistent from the start. He’s a genius when it comes to tech, but he has massive blind spots when it comes to people and politics, as well as simply not knowing what genre of story he’s in. His choices were probably not the optimal way to handle the situation, but they were undeniably the Vegapunk way to do it. Look back to the start of the arc and Vegapunk’s passion for the ideas of infinite energy and widespread access to information. Of course he’s not going to dismantle the Mother Flame before the Government can take it, he wants to perfect it so the whole world can use it. Is that playing with fire, risking handing an authoritarian empire a power source for their ultimate weapon? Werner von Punk hasn’t concerned himself with the negative potential of his ideas before. Watch him dismiss Jinbe’s concerns about the Punk Records database being poisoned by ideologically-driven misinformation. That stuff is not his department, he just wants to finish building things. Vegapunk sold out on his revolutionary sympathies to get Government funding; we see him debate Dragon over this choice. All of these factors run consistently into a personality that would milk the status quo for as long as possible, and try to finish as much work as possible, with his last act of rebellion set to go off only in the event of his death.

His perspective on the decision not to run makes sense as well. The World Government seems so large and so inevitable to a person who has to live with it. Even in lawless lands, the idea of being iced quietly by a Cipher Pol operative would scan as a real threat. Even Wano wasn’t safe from that kind of thing. I can see how running seemed pointless in his circumstances. At least staying on Egghead, the assassins ring the front doorbell and give you a moment to make peace. And, of course, the chance for a death that’s bombastic and impossible to come up. What would have happened to his countermeasure if the Government had launched a smear campaign to discredit him and reattribute his accomplishments to others the moment he fled? This way, Vegapunk’s narrative gets out first.

Now, this is a Shonen manga where a big million to one play of determination and defiance would have been rewarded, like the Strawhats declaring war on the whole Government for Robin, but we can’t expect Vegapunk to know he’s in that kind of story.

A very interesting point of emphasis in this section of the story is the Cloud Plant. The Buster Call sure as hell didn’t care to spare it, but it’s the place Edison was last seen before his signal went dead. If he came to the same conclusion about its importance as Vegapunk-stella does here while hearing the broadcast, he might have gone offline deliberately and made off with a vital component needed to recreate the technology on the run. My stance was ‘died from his injuries until Oda gives a reason to think otherwise,’ and this feels just vague enough to make a reason. The next cover story could be his and Stussy’s great escape from the burning island, slipping onto a ship or through the blockade while everyone else is knocked out by Emet’s Haki bomb. Let’s stick a pin in that one.

And we also get the question of what it means for Vegapunk to die, with his brain separate from his body, and his mind duplicated across half a dozen androids. The lines are blurry; the clones can seemingly share the stella’s memories from before they were created – seen through Shaka being the one to trigger the brief flashback to the aftermath of Ohara. But there’s also a heirarchy. We’re told its the satellites’ duty to die to protect the stella, as if there’s something special or extra about him that the others lack. But the lack of significant mourning or atmosphere of loss over the stella may be because Oda intends us to think Vegapunk lives on through Lilith. Again, things still to explore.

Now the memory erasure. To be honest, this one does feel a little like it was done for the drama. They’ve managed to not let anything slip and keep the information from syncing with Punk Records for two weeks as they set up and execute their contingency, but now it’s a threat that something could come out? Okay, but then he leaves a note revealing everything short of the traitor’s identity anyway. Surely the a scientist’s curious need to investigate the claims on the note would cause more disruption than just holding onto the lie. No, this one was done mainly to keep Vegapunk from giving the whole game away to the Strawhats as soon as they arrive.

On the flip side, the conversation with Sanji fills in a gap I remember talking about as it happened. Why did Vegapunk disappear from Sanji’s side and wander back into the fire off screen when he was poised to escape? I’d said there felt like there was a beat missing there, and here it is. Good work closing that hole, Oda.

This is running long already, so I won’t go too deep into Elbaf expectations from the last page. There’ll be plenty of time for that in the months to come, but I’m pleased to see it looking like something Oda’s excited to draw, with that same passionate energy as the introduction of Wano. He’s been waiting for this, and so have we. Looking forward to watching this final saga continue to develop next week!