After like four more chapters of Egghead loose ends than expected, I think we can finally call the transition to an Elbaf arc complete. But we still spend most of the chapter on things that follow up past arcs. Shanks has been waiting to check Barto off his to-do list since Wano, the Blackbeard sections reference the cutaway sequence and events from Egghead’s final set piece, there’s a Bonney and Kuma moment, and more updates on the Revolutionaries’ siege. Any of those things, I think, you could justify grouping as part of Egghead’s epilogue if not for the obvious first plot hook of Elbaf in the final pages of the chapter.

But that’s just One Piece sometimes. Look back and think about where Thriller Bark and Sabaody separate. Chapter 490 contains all together Brook’s new crewmate toast, Kuma’s debrief about letting Luffy go, and the giant mysterious figures in the Florian Triangle – all important story or theme points for Thriller Bark – but also the arrival at the Redline and the introduction of Camie – vital setup for Sabaody. The transition of arcs happens kind in the middle of the chapter. Such is the nature of a serialised story after it gets big enough.

And what an opening to an arc. The crew gets smashed on hallucinogenic booze and loses a day or two and end up separated, left to piece together what they missed. It’s fairly unique. You might compare it to Zou, where the reader’s POV starts at the end of a normal arc and we get the main events filled in via flashback. But after Egghead’s cutaway, there’s precedent for not circling back to the skipped day as well. It’s going to take a lot more than one chapter – and probably the next one – to be fully sure what Oda’s building up to here and how he plans to structure it.

The opening party has two moments I really like. Nami being driven to drink by the giants’ warrior customs, and Bonney and Kuma finally reunited and able to enjoy the open sea they dreamed of. Kuma’s even smiling. He’s going to make it!

On the other hand, it really handwaves away the timeline discrepancies with Dory, Brogy, Oimo and Kashii’s journey. Maybe they could have waved that hand a little faster to say the duo from Ennies Lobby at least reached Elbaf and decided only recently to go check in on the captains. Oh well.

And then we have Shanks and Bartolomeo. This is a much darker side of Shanks than has previously been shown, or at least than has previously been directed toward anyone we like. I think with so long offscreen it’s been easy to fill in the blanks with what we want to see of the man, and it’s inevitable some fans are going to be shocked, surprised and even disappointed by the reality. Personally, I like a mentor with a secret or two to dramatise the relationship. I’m interested to see what Oda does with it.

Shanks acts like a pro pirate here, a seasoned pillar of the criminal underworld. The importance of respect, reputation and the risks that come from people thinking they can get away with crossing you all speak to historical piracy and even more modern organised crime. But his expressions stick in my mind. The blacked out and shaded-over eyes could simply be a sign he’s in serious mode, but his close up when Bartolomeo expresses regret that he won’t see Luffy be King of the Pirates betrays genuine sadness. Compare and contrast his encounter with Kid, which features the same darkened eyes early on, but a much angrier expression in the aftermath.

Does Shanks regret that he has to escalate a turf war with Luffy? Does he simply not like that the role of Emperor forces him to be ruthless for the sake of protecting his territory? The fast transition from appreciating Barto’s loyalty to delivering the final lesson only amps up the ambiguity.

Props to Barto though. His commitment is real and wonderful. Hope this isn’t the end of his story.

Blackbeard’s sequence doesn’t give us as much new, just a sense of plans and building toward the future. I enjoyed the details of the bandages on the skull and learning that Garp is still alive though. And poor Pudding. That’s going to be an interesting source of conflict in the future, when Sanji gets wind of it.

It’s also nice getting a view of the Revolutionaries’ actual tactics through Laffite’s sequence. The bombs and fires give the sense of kind of a guerilla operation, all sabotage and terror. From all the Dragon “…” and “looking east” memes that have been repeated enough to become insufferable, I think there’s a chunk of the fanbase that needed to see this stuff to understand it.

We return to the Strawhats for the final new story hook. Bonney getting to act like a little girl again, clinging to Jinbei’s side, is the cutest touch. But hang on, if we’re acknowledging her as a kid here, she probably wasn’t drinking with the rest. She might be key to figuring out what happened while everyone else was blacked out.

I’m looking forward to where this Lego-look castle is going to go next week. We’ve seen Oda toy with this idea for a colour spread many years ago (chapter 622) and it looked pretty good back then. Makes yuo wonder how long he’s wanted to do this. I have no particularly novel theories about what’s going on here – the same likely conclusions everyone else seems to be reaching – she’s probably on Elbaf already, a plaything to some kind of child prince. Maybe Loki, but I don’t know if the timing lines up him to act that young. The real question is how this happened while the rest of the crew remains at sea. Did an envoy sail on to meet them? Could the Great Erik have reached Elbaf then departed again for some reason?

And hey, no break next week. Three chapters in a row again! Looking forward to seeing where all this is going with you all!