This has been a pretty great year despite the number of chapters released staying low. Oda clearly has momentum and inspiration and is aware enough of his limitations to keep the story moving at a decent clip. There’s room for concern that he’s going a little too quick – a few key relationships are feeling underdeveloped – but at the same time he’s successfully delivering on some of his longest-term promises so it’s far from doom and gloom.

It’s kind of an in-between year for projects outside the main manga. No really big collaborations, movies or games. No news on the remake of the anime. The second season of the live action turned out to be a next year thing (all TV takes so long to make these days, it’s awful). The digital colour manga released a single volume in April and has gone radio silent (it’s nearly as far behind the black and white volumes as it’s ever been). It’s definitely big news that the Toei anime is going seasonal, but I personally don’t really follow it usually. I’ll give the Elbaph season a shot to see if it feels different when it returns next year.

Let’s look at (what I think are) Oda’s wins and losses for the year.

Wins

The Harley
Moment of the year, spread of the year, a highlight in every possible way, the Harley text and mural made me feel like a kid again. I was bright-eyed, wowed by how grand and epic it all felt, the cynical feeling you get from having been around long enough and read enough to see the seams where a narrative is sewn together totally forgotten. Seeing everyone’s analyses and theories, crafting my own and talking it out on and offline made me feel more engaged with One Piece than I have in years. And I’m the kind of fan who writes about a thousand words about each chapter even when I’m not fully in the vibe, so that’s a lot of engagement! This is nearly three decades of mythmaking paying off. What else can you say?

Rocks
The back half of the year has been absolutely dominated by one of Oda’s most fascinating characters. Great aesthetics, a bombastic personality, layered morality and a tragic story that leaves you wondering where he could have ended up if he hadn’t been screwed by fate combine into an all-time winner.

God Valley
This year’s most pleasant surprise. Even after learning of Loki and Rocks’ connection, I didn’t expect much when the flashback started. It’s about Harald and the incident in the castle, I thought. Even when he actually showed up, I think ‘surely it’s just a cameo with some Blackbeard lore to keep us satisfied, we’ll move on from this soon.’ But the battle drew closer and closer without the story changing course. The action played out in more detail than anyone would expect from a flashback. We got it. We got basically all of it. And not only that, one of the most anticipated sequences of the last five years actually stuck the landing, despite all the ways enormous hype can undermine otherwise good storytelling for a fanbase.

Shamrock and Shanks
This may be controversial, but I liked the twins theory for a long time before it was confirmed. I like it now that it is confirmed. The way the Reverie scene is framed to give all the clues required so many years in advance is masterful. It was great fun that Oda played with showing the audience Shanks’s sinister side in the Bartolomeo scene last year to cast doubts before the reveal. Shamrock immediately distinguishes himself from his twin with a cruel streak even sinister Shanks lacks. He’s got great screen presence and a cool sword, and the flashback sets up some very interesting dynamics between him and Shanks in the future.

Sleeptid Designs
These things are so good. The use of screentone to make them look crayon-coloured. The whole kids’ drawings feel captured perfectly. The running joke of that one kid’s mum turning up as one of them. They’re a wonderfully creative thing to bring in.

Neutral Zone

A few things remain up in the air between two extremes. I don’t have particularly strong feelings about any of the God Knights outside of those couple of specific things. They have the makings of a good villain squad – Gunko’s mysterious past, Sommers’ cackling card-carrying-villain cruelty and Killingham’s swing between a dopey dragon and an edgelord human – but I want to see how they’re used and what their conclusions are before I lock them in as success stories.

Another is Domi Reversi as Imu’s power. It’s on the borderline of a negative point. The control is so instant, so complete, so seemingly unblockable. The fact that it spreads like a virus. How it even interacts with the Covenants that seem to be the bread and butter of Imu’s powers. But I’ll be gracious and give Oda a chance to answer these questions before I decry Reversi as a mistake.

Back on the edge of a win, is Loki as a person. He’s got the backstory (the intensity of his birth!), he’s got the looks, he’s shaping up a big personality, and he’s got Luffy’s vote, but I want to see how he acts as a free man with the full context of his story before I get in too deep with him. The level to which he’s been sidelined in his own flashback makes me worry he’ll feel emotionally thin when we get to his big moments.

Losses

The Knights’ Weakness
I really wanted this to be something other than more Haki. I especially didn’t want more Conqueror’s Haki. Conqueror’s coating was manageable as a skill; it never seemed like it was absolutely needed. But limiting the ability to do real damage to some of the biggest antagonists to just a chosen few leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

Loki’s Undercooked Relationships
Hajrudin is meant to be in conflict about what to believe of his half-brother and whether he can trust him going into the flashback. The choice to free Loki on paper carries a lot of weight as a turning point for ihs character, but while I see that, I can’t feel it. We just haven’t had enough time with them to build up the emotional texture of it.

Ditto with Loki and Ida. I like Ida. Ida’s death scene is self-evidently sad even without a relationship with the characters. But Loki declaring himself Ida’s son? It’s meant to be a big moment, but we just didn’t get quite enough time with them together for it to hit right.

Gunko’s Outfit
Come on man, what is this meant to be? A lighter top could have given a leotard or swimsuit vibe. A skirt or shorts would have felt like a uniform. What we have literally feels like a character who was rushed out the door before she could finish getting dressed, which is made even wilder by that actually happening to a different member of the God Knights. It’s all of Oda’s worst fanservice instincts from Egghead coming back again.

Best Ofs

Best Spread
Harley Mural. Beautiful and poignant, the moment that made the year. The five-way attack on Imu is a runner up on sheer cool factor.

Best volume cover
Volume 113. I love the dynamic feeling of the God Knights coming toward the camera.

Best Jump Cover
Stained glass. I can’t help enjoying a style experiment.

Best Colour Spread
Claw machine. So much storytelling for every character featured, plus all those little plushes. The style factor of the Rocks one makes it a strong runner up.