Oda is such a tease. Let there be no fear that the series is wrapping up anytime soon. Despite a hugely memorable entrance Shamrock seems to be ducking out to save his boss status for later, and even Scopper hints that he plans to sit things out and not reveal anything he has to say to Luffy until after things with Loki wrap up. Although, it seems reasonably likely the abduction of his son will pull him into the mix anyway. And Shamrock hasn’t actually left yet, so maybe I’m jumping the gun on character departures.

I guess the cover story is going to lead to some kind of Ulti and Page One redemption. Sure, why not. Maybe the Beast Pirates officers who were endearingly evil rather than wholly, cruelly evil are going to end up as Yamato’s crew. Although, 26 installments in, there’s not going to be a lot of time to go track down Sasaki and whoever else. And what happened between Ulti and Who’s Who that he’s happy to just torture her anyway?

I’m not surprised the Scopper fight turned out to be a low stakes test rather than a proper showdown, but I’m pleased to see him using the key to fight at least for a little while. It stands out a lot more visually than the axes (though the spread where he cuts up the tower is a banger), and gives us some fun physical comedy when he jams it in Luffy’s mouth. I’m searching desperately for subtext in the dialogue about the straw hat, some hint about its relevance or purpose that Scopper knows from the old days, but there’s not really much to see besides Scops trying to wind Luffy up.

Two new villains make a great entrance this week with fascinating designs and a great comedic bit when they’re summoned in the process of receiving their orders. I’m going to headcanon that being pulled through without getting fully dressed yet is what happened to Gunko. Also Sommers has medals all the way down to his boots after he’s dressed. It’s a fun detail.

But the real interest here is the new summoning circle lore. People can’t go without a “mark,” but some inanimate objects can be pulled in. It makes this mysterious mark a double-edged sword – giving the freedom of fast travel, but but also vulnerability of being pulled in against your will any moment after you’ve been branded. Hey, I wonder if we’ll see the good guys exploit that at some point to eject a particularly dangerous WG enemy? And what would have happened if the guys Brook went to for the timeskip had actually stumbled onto the number for a Holy Knight or even an Elder?

We also learn a little bit about the structure of the Holy Knights. Shamrock sends a request up the chain for backup, it gets relayed by his superiors to the other Knights, evidenced by Sommers and Killingham arriving while in conversation with someone else, and with new orders for Shamrock. It’s an opaque system for the Knights, and must put some frustrating limits on their autonomy that the plan can be changed so suddenly. Curious about the summoning circle being called an Abyss too. Does the word they use for that in Japanese reveal any connection to the “void” or “emptiness” that come up in the Harley text?

One more time it’s hinted that Harald wasn’t as good as he seemed. I can’t think of a single good reason it would even be on the cards for Shamrock to visit his grave if he wasn’t in cahoots with some of the world’s worst people.

Shamrock suggesting a game before he departs is curious. The hunting game from God Valley is the first thing that comes to mind, but how does that work for an abduction mission? Or a nation you plan to subjugate rather than exterminate. Hunting giants for sport will not result in an army of giants for the WG. Hunting giant children for sport will make the adults only marginally more cooperative than if they were dead. There must be something else on the cards.

As setup chapters go, this was a fun one. Looking forward to seeing where Oda’s taking it all next week.