The recap is done and the action is moving! Still no Luffy and Loki though. If we were any closer to the end of the volume I might guess that Oda’s saving them for that final page, but three chapters (minimum) is a long time for a guy who was so confident he could casually fly up.

Zoro’s plan to go high to avoid the Reversi is genuinely pretty clever, and I love the panel of him falling into the mob of demonic giants. Cool Zoro moment right there. But what stands out to me is the board game metaphor: if Imu is playing Reversi, Zoro’s just pulled a Checkers move. (Oda is, as always, playing 5D chess.) Will this result in some recaptured pieces? We cut away before it’s obvious if any of the demons hit this way are getting back up as themselves or not, but I can’t help thinking that if Luffy had done this, the Nika powers would have let him change the rules of the game for sure.

The follow-up moment where Dorry and Brogy cut each other is a neat callback to their clash on Little Garden when we first saw them, but the framing of Zoro’s dodge feels a little odd. Looks like he’s going down when either up or sideways would be a smarter choice to not get caught in the spell.

Despite being all bones, Brook gives us the meat of the chapter (yohohoho!). The mystery of Brook’s pre-piracy past is literally two weeks out from turning 18, but I’ve never forgotten it! But I definitely didn’t expect it to tie him to Imu either. Seems pretty obvious that this Shuri followed the trajectory Harald was meant to take – possessed and forced to murder her own as part of a coup, then brought back to the Holy Land as an asset after the country was secured. It’s actually a pretty fun build-up to this revelation – the earlier flashback panel and the start of Brook’s speech really get you feeling he’ll be distressed to find this figure from his past under Imu’s thumb, but then he turns on a dime and yells about how much he hates her. It’s not the kind of talk you expect to hear from Brook. Particularly not directed toward a pantsless woman.

We’re also learning some new extents and limitations of Imu’s powers. Erasing memories is a big one. Does that happen by design, or is it a gradual effect that comes from long periods controlled? But we also see the victim being able to push Imu out on a purely emotional basis – not just when the mark was repairing itself as we saw with Harald. It’s definitely interesting that Shuri/Gunko is the first one to pull this off though. Harald resisted valiantly but his control seemed to wane with time. Rocks, Dory and Broggy were all completely lost and willing to attack the people they held most dear despite despite all pleas to stop. So what makes this girl different? Maybe she’s been saving her strength for that one critical moment of resistance for decades. Maybe she’s been docile so long Imu wasn’t prepared to fight back against her like they expected to do with new converts.

It’s cool seeing Brook actually use the shield that came with his Elbaph outfit. You sorta figure those things are ornamental when they fall outside the character’s normal skillset. And props to the old skeleton for technically being the first Strawhat to clash with the big bad. You can always count on him to sneak into the spotlight at a critical moment.

Over to Sommers’ group, and hang on, what’s that he’s riding on? It looks alive, but it’s not shaded like a Sleeptid. Did he make that just with his own powers, or have the thorns left such an impression they can already be extracted as a nightmare? Even at this late stage, the variety of Sleeptids is still increasing. I like the rabbit monster at the top of page nine and the dragon with the top hat on the bottom of page 10. Plus another payoff to the running gag about that one kid’s mum, she’s there to help with the rest of the adults and just as scary as the nightmares made her out to be! I hope she gets named in an SBS and goes down as a darkhorse fan favourite.

What an odd choice to destroy the escape ship now. It’s funny that Sommers messes up his deflection of the Sleeptid and do it himself, and it’s very thematic that it’s a Nika nightmare that causes this chaotic turn. But the kids reaching that ship was out main ticking clock. The Strawhats didn’t even get a chance to race against it after being freed. There’s no way that part of Oda’s beloved structure is being written off before Luffy shows up, and with just three major villains we’re already struggling to find enough for all our heroes to do to have their moments. So I guess that means there’s another stage of this battle coming with a new countdown as the main fights start. The fire from the school spreading maybe? Factor that into your guesses for how long this arc takes to end. It’s that, or Oda is going further outside his normal storytelling than I think any of us expected him to.

I’m pretty happy with where this leaves us. The Brook stuff is massively exciting and great balm for anyone who ever starts to feel doom and gloom that Oda might have forgotten their pet throwaway line they’ve been waiting decades for follow up on. But let’s start finding matchups and get that second clock ticking quick so we can still meet Burnscar this year!