It’s really getting grim now, and with the end of volume 116 potentially just a chapter or two away, this one marks an inflection point for the series’ tone. Things are set to get even worse with a wounded mentor figure leaping into the fight; and while it wouldn’t totally be in Oda’s typical style to kill off Scopper, if there was a time to break from convention to raise the stakes, this is it. On the other hand, what is likely from Oda is hyping up the next volume by ending on a moment where the good guys rally and prepare for the next push. With Scopper buying time and Loki receiving both medical care and backup from Hajrdin and his crew, there’s scope to push back against Imu soon.

As infamous as Oda is for his moment to moment unpredictability, he sticks to some pretty comfortable and time-tested macro-level story structures. Spending a long time establishing a convention is a good way to make the moment that you break from it feel meaningful (see Sabaody), but often for us readers the correct time and way to make that divergence is obvious only in hindsight.

Getting into the story, I love how casual we’re being with Usopp’s Observation Haki here. I’m not a Loki-for-crewmate kind of guy, but his and Ragnir’s interactions with the crew are really enjoyable, and Hajrudin’s group slot easily into the scene’s dynamics as well.

I appreciate how little Imu is messing around here. Yes, he monologues, but he’s driving weapons into a helpless Luffy one after the other as he does it. The worst you can say is that he maybe could have gone for the head the first time, but can you really blame him for not thinking a second one to the chest would be enough? The life force drain on the swords is noteworthy too. We know Gear Five saps a lot of energy and fades on its own when Luffy gets tired. But here we have Luffy badly wounded and being twice drained by weapons with enough draw to wither trees from a distance, and he stays in form. Is this a testament to how much life force Luffy has, or is it some kind of defence mechanism that he keeps it on despite the mortal danger. You also have to wonder if the lifedrain attribute applies to every weapon in the set, or only a select few. Imu tried a couple without visibly withering the environment at the start of the fight, after all.

The flashback scene reiterates the missing link between where Shanks and Loki left off and one chaining the other to a tree. Was Loki catching too much heat, and Shanks was trying to keep him alive until the correct time? And, of course, the ‘not yet’ talk echoes Roger thinking he was ‘too early’ and Rocks choosing to retreat from the Holy Land and make further preparations after seeing Imu in person. What do they all know that we don’t?

It’s kinda funny how in and out Robin is from this conversation. I think she would love learning that there’s a king of the world, might even have some opinions about the names of the weapons he’s using if she gets close enough to hear any of them said. Buuut I’m sure whatever’s going on at the library is going to pay big dividends for the arc’s ending, especially since we’ve just been reminded that Chopper can translate for animals.

Do we think Imu actually has limited control over the weapons he pulls, or is he just playing up the idea of not expecting the axe for his own amusement? And while we’re on weapons, I feel like it’s not really clear if the ones being used here are literally being transported in from the Empty Throne’s room (could be a security concern if someone sees that happen) or echoes, or if the ones are the throne are replicas and Imu is pulling the real ones from somewhere else. Sommers says that Omen was used to ‘bring them back’ so I’m wondering if that just means getting them to Elbaph or if it relates to how shiny and new they look compared to the decayed ones around the throne.

And also, if we look back two chapters, Sommers and Killingham were not using Gram and Longinus at the start of their fights. Have their regular weapons been augmented, or are they able to pull new ones through their halos at will like Imu’s been doing?

One thing I’m not seeing many people mention about Scopper’s entrance is that it breaks the branch Luffy’s pinned to. Unsure if I should read this as Scopper cutting the tree on his way in to get Luffy away, or if it’s that anime thing where a flying slash continues past the place it was blocked. I lean to the former, but we might have to wait for the next chapter to clarify the motion here.

The breaks are tough this time of year, but at least every chapter has been knocking it out of the park. We’re not even getting a hint that Imu might be on a time limit as evidence previously suggested, he truly is feeling unstoppable, even if Loki gets back in the game with Hajrudin. Very much looking forward to see what Oda’s cooking for the finale of this arc.

Feel free to also check out my video on the canon colours of One Piece!