Captain M Entertainment

This text was originally written for Arlong Park forums’ discussion thread.

And it’s done. For real this time with no doubt remaining. While this still isn’t the best of Luffy’s finishers or Oda’s arc climaxes, I believe in choosing ‘done’ over ‘perfect’ and would rather be looking forward to seeing how the next arc builds up than I would be spending another six months trying to course correct Wano’s finale. I’m hoping for a more streamlined follow-up arc that doesn’t have to squash and stretch itself to make key moments line up with milestone chapter numbers. I will stand by this being the right place for Wano to end, bloated and imperfect though it was.

No shocker that it’s Germa in the cover story, though Ichiji and Reiju sure did make it from Cacao to Whole Cake quickly. I wonder if they found a way to hijack the mirrors.

I would never have guessed Oda would use magma as the means of ending Kaido and Big Mom. Even back in chapter 1040 when Big Mom was falling I didn’t read the bright spot she was seeing as lava (even though plenty of people said it at the time). It feels like an uncharacterstically fatal way for Oda to end two characters – especially seeing Kaido revert to human form, confirming devil fruit rules are in effect, even for molten rock. It also certainly seems ominous that the Marines’ top devil fruit is magma-powered and Oda chose the same substance to dispose of two of the strongest pirates in the world.

Even so, I’m not completely convinced of Big Mom and Kaido’s actual deaths. We know how crazy durable both of them are (with kaido seemingly coating himself in lava for a final attack anyway), and we can see from the silhouettes their bodies weren’t instantly melted the same way a normal person would be. Plus, there’s the eruption to justify them getting out of the underground and being flung far away from Wano, neatly resolving the issue of how to drive off or restrain them now that the battle’s done. While I’d be happy to see them stay dead, there’s not a bone in my body that would be shocked by a Kaido and Big Mom cover story in the future.

What if they get shot to the moon to see Enel?

The rest of the chapter moves like clockwork through the post-battle catharsis of celebrations, announcements and the remaining enemy underlings throwing down their arms.

I did like seeing Chopper being inundated with requests for medical attention, keeping his core skills relevant, and Brook and Franky showing off that they’ve got gas left in the tank since Brook only got an assist battle and Franky did all his important fighting from inside his mech.

Momo doubling down on not opening the borders is a good choice. I praised him back in chapter 1041 for making strides to becoming his own man, not just blindly following his father’s will and goals, and I stand by that. Oden was many great things, but a skilled politician he was not, and with Wano in turmoil and the World Government right outside I think it’s probably smart to not just recklessly open them the way Oden might have. The addition of a “yet” to what he was saying in 1041 shows the right kind of acceptance that the opening will eventually be necessary. But if it’s going to hurt more people than it would help, it’s fine as a long-term goal.

Interesting that the point of keeping the citizens of the captial in the dark during the battle seems to have been the Kaido/Momo dragon form mixup and the ability to do a sudden, surprise reveal of the Scabbards’ and Hiyori’s return to annoucne the new shogun. I wonder if there’ll be more to come of this, because it doesn’t feel like it was quite worth it as things are. There was one take I saw in the initial discussions that I liked – that the secrecy of the raid left things open for the citizens to wish for Kaido’s fall using the lanterns and have their wishes granted seemingly instantly, but does that totally flow? I think I’ll have to wait til after my whole-arc reread to say for sure.

I’m not really concerned about the prophecy about the dawn not being fulfilled with the end of the battle or whatever. It fits just fine for the sun to rise alongside Momo’s adult form reveal, signifying the return to a rightful ruler, not just the toppling of the wrong ones. It’s cathartic to see Kaido and Orochi done with, but the return of the Kozukis is the thing that will bring about real change for the common people of Wano. (Monarchist that I now apparently am)

While this week is really just a transitionary chapter between battle and aftermath, it had a couple of extremely nice spreads and it’s done its job in building my anticipation for the lore, the poneglyphs and the glimpses of outside Wano to an all-time high. We’ve spent two years on Onigashima and four in Wano. I’m ready for the next thing! Bring it on!

This text was originally written for Arlong Park forums’ discussion thread.

It’s over! Oh god, it’s finally over! I’m plugging my fingers in my ears and refusing to hear any speculation to the contrary. Kaido’s down. The battle is over. The conflict resolved. Act three has had some tremendous highs and muddled itself into some equally rough lows, but it’s done now, and we get to move onto the history and the lore and the next arc. Ugh, I’m not going to rest properly until the narration confirms it after the break, am I?

The cover story gets more and more curious. This can’t be related to the figures at Cacao, especially if they really are Reiju and Ichiji. For them, it would have to be Judge in the research facility at Whole Cake, and it feels like a stretch for him to get there so far ahead of them. So either it’s a different group, or there’s a third party freeing the siblings.

Kaido, for all his meatheaded battle lust in the present, turns out to have a pretty interesting past and some coherent and relevant personal philosophies to think over. “Why does everyone have obey those Celestial Dragons anyway?” “Why should I be a Government lapdog?” “Don’t use me as some political pawn!” “(paraphrased)The pampered noble-born rulers take the safety of their ivory thrones for granted!” Excellent points, and all the more terrifying for the authorities coming from someone too strong to be restrained. We even learn more about the World Government’s awful powers and beliefs as it happens – they can forcibly constrict individuals from member states into their own navy and don’t give citizens non-member states their full human rights. Both of those things could have been intuited previously, but it’s good to see them set in stone. Kaido sees the injustices of the world more clearly than I’d given him credit for, but he’s learned the wrong lesson from them. Instead of empathising with others who were oppressed and fighting for their equality, he takes the world’s unfairness as an unchangable natural law and treats it as a competition to be won – where the prize is to be the oppressor instead of the oppressed.

I’m very interested in Higurashi recruiting Kaido to Wano the same way she sucked in Orochi. The old lady seems to have a lot of knowledge and Devil Fruit access she really shouldn’t. Who was her backer? What was her endgame? I hope we get to see how she died at some point. What did she think of Kaido ordering her death after making this deal so long before? Has she got anything to do with Wano’s Lode Poneglyph not being in either of the obvious locations of Kaido’s basement or the Shogun’s palace? This is the kind of thing I’m eager to dig into now that the fghting is wrapped up.

I love the sudden two panel sequence of the last CP0 agent just peacing out of this whole mess. Pretty fair response after everything that’s happened. I look forward to seeing who his report reaches.

I love the spread of the water bursting out of the castle wall all at once and crashing down over the Performance Floor. The castle, from looming over the start of the battle, to going all the way up in flames, to spilling out the life-saving water has been an commanding presence in the Onigashima battle. I think it would have been cool if it had been allowed to totally collapse, but I’m glad everyone inside gets out alive. And a clever convergence of plot threads to have the water extinguish the flame clouds as it drains, forcing Momo to finally act.

I’m a tad surprised that the lanterns didn’t end up serving a practical purpose in this sequence. It’s neat symbolism having them embody the wishes of the locals right as they’re fulfilled, but all the build up had the expecting more. I guess I overthought it.

The final blow on Kaido was spectacularly drawn. And I love seeing how the beginning mirrors the end, the first blow matches the last. It’s like poetry. It rhymes.

I need more clarity on where exactly Momo set the island down. Did he plug the holes that either Kaido or Big Mom fell into? And where’s Luffy going to land, given how high up he was and how badly he seems to have been burned in the final clash?

While I’m sure debates and opinions will rage about tension and awakenings and no one using the skyscraper-sized sword, I really do feel like this is the right place to wrap this battle up. There’s been a lot to love in its duration, but it’s also been an absolute marathon. An obvious emotional peak has been reached – the wishes, the threat of the falling island, the threat of the fire and Momo’s emotional arc converging alongside the final blow – and whether or not it worked for every reader it doesn’t make sense to draw things out beyond this point. There’s nothing substantial left to run in parallel with any conceivable last hurrah for Kaido, so it would only feel like an anticlimax by comparison. So this is it. Personally, I’m excited to see the transition into Wano’s postgame, and look forward to rereading the arc in full in a couple of months (at least) after it properly ends and the crew departs.

This text was originally written for Arlong Park forums’ discussion thread.

Back again for what feels very, very much like the penultimate chapter of Luffy and Kaido’s exhausting battle, moving all the pieces to their final destinations and reminding everyone of the emotional stakes. But first there’s the cover story, which suggests but does not explicitly show the obvious Vinsmoke solution. Interesting. Could be a big misdirect. Still isn’t Blackbeard any way you slice it though.

Kaido’s enormous, seemingly-magma coated final form is an incredible bit of art, one of the coolest things Oda’s drawn. There was a moment where I felt a little disappointed that it’s so similar to King’s final attack, but it actually makes for an interesting show of King’s loyalty to Kaido for saving him, that he would develop moves in his captain’s image. Kaido’s tail burning off the tip of Onigashima’s other horn is a return to symmetry we’re nearly fifty chapters overdue for.

I really like that Luffy’s training with Hyogoro is still relevant in this final stage. The two big upgrades – conqueror coating and Gear Five – that came up during the Onigashima fight quickly overshadowed the skill that it took all of Act 2 to figure out. All those chapters might have felt wasted if we didn’t have a moment here to make it completely clear that projecting haki off your body is a totally unique skill that hasn’t been folded into the CoC coating, and without Kaido pulling out an ultimate move that would slag Luffy’s arm without it. I don’t know if I’ll ever consider Wano to be the series’ most graceful arc structurally, but Oda’s commitment to remembering the fine details and bringing them full circle is forever admirable.

I don’t think there’s much really worth commenting on in the flashbacks here aside from how grim the scene with the noose is. It’s all been shown before. It can feel a little redundant going over it again from a weekly perspective, but every panel adds weight to what’s coming next week. This chapter should breeze by on the reread. It is nice seeing the “fool of a lord” comment turned back on Orochi, if nothing else. I wasn’t even expecting that to come up again, but Oda brings it full circle just the same.

Oden having a son does feel like something Kaido should know, even discounting the likelihood he wouldn’t have been able to hear the face hag’s words in the heat of battle. Maybe it’s a translation issue? Like the original line is less ‘so he has a son’ and more ‘so they’re going for his son,’ both of which could be expressed through just ‘his son, huh?’ and extrapolated. Also on the translation front, it seems weird that sound effect behind the Scabbards as they flee Oden’s execution in the flashback is translated as the dramatic Doom and not the gunshot sound Blam when it seems to be representing Oden getting shot by Kaido.

Orochi being finally slain by Denjiro is what I and many others have been saying for like half this arc. Having the Scabbard who spent years keeping his head down in the monster’s employ be the one to deliver the finishing blow (as he must have dreamed of doing so many times over the decades) is exactly the right ending. Credit where it’s due, though, I’ve been wondering for weeks what the point was in keeping Orochi around as long as he lasted, but timing it alongside the lanterns going upwas the right choice. From a narrative perspective, we all know Kaido is and always was the last boss, but to the people of Wano, Orochi is the face of their oppression. That he falls only after they wish for it makes for a great dramatic moment.

I think this all ends next week. Maybe Kaido’s defeat isn’t confirmed by the narration until 1050, but Oda is leaning too hard on this giant fist for it not to be the finishing move, and there’s no way it’s not coming down next week. Most of the chapter probably focuses on Momo finding his courage and shifting the island, with a page or two to finish the sequence of the water flowing through the castle and out onto the Performance Floor, but then we wrap this bad boy up. Apoo and Inbi and that last CP0 guy can scuttle away and be fully dealt with in the post-battle section, like Caribou was on Fishman Island. Kaido’s flashback, whatever kind of one he gets, can come as he blacks out like it did for King. But all of the story’s momentum right now, especially with this week’s straight up anticipation chapter, is behind that fist and its imminent fall.

This text was originally written for Arlong Park forums’ discussion thread.

We’re back with a gorgeous, summery colour spread. Wish I could be there, but it’s only getting older where I am. I wouldn’t be surprised if this whole spread grew from Oda wanting to experiment with those palm frond shadows, but I think the effect paid off.

We reiterate the pressure on Momo, which I think is something more for the weekly readers than those of us who’ve known this since Zou. Kin’emon feels uncharacteristically harsh on Momo here – and I don’t know if his comment suggesting shame is the worst thing that could happen holds water following Oden submitting himself to public humiliation for a worthy cause (even if the outcome of that was pretty bad for everyone).

Kaido: Abilities alone cannot conquer the world! … Roger didn’t have any fruit powers!

Me: Yeah!

Kaido: Only Haki can transcend all!

Me: No!

It’s a fun action back and forth between Luffy and Kaido here, but I hope Kaido isn’t being Oda’s mouthpiece on Haki. I don’t think any singular ability should be the one on top. It should be about how a fighter specialises, and how they use what they’ve got to get around their enemy’s specialties.

Is Kaido launching his breath attack directly onto his spinning body to catapult it upward? For a moment I thought he was just throwing slashes directly out of his spine, but I think he’s actually just bouncing it around.

Back in the capital, the lanterns are finally going up, which means the end must be close. If I had to guess at their purpose at this stage, I’d say they’ll give Momo the final boost he needs to properly move the island. Maybe they all press up against the side and get him thinking all the people of Wano are behind him, pushing as well. It has the potential to be a really nice moment.

The scenes with the samurai on the Performance Floor are a much better version of the “place to die” philosophy we’ve been going back and forth on in this arc. No one here wants death as their conclusion, but they’re at peace with having put their lives on the line for the people they love back home. It’s a subtle difference from the resignation Usopp called out from the Scabbards, but it makes all the difference in the world.

Orochi continues to not surprise at all, coming loose from Hiyori’s trap and having only one head left. The island’s shaking dislodging the nail feels like a weaker reason than the water would have been, but I can hardly complain when his flaming hydra form looks so damn cool. Next chapter, I assume, Denjiro finally finishes the job. The beats of the Orochi subplot all make sense, but for the life of me I can’t see what’s been gained by making it last all the way to the end like this. Hoping for a good reason he didn’t go down around the same time as King and Queen at the latest.

Luffy really seems to have set up his final final final attack in the closing spread. The giant fist coming down on Kaido’s snaking dragon form looks absolutely incredible and makes a fun bookend with the first attack Luffy hit Kaido with all the way back in act one. I think he’ll feel this one a bit more though.

The pieces of the finale are all in play – Kaido takes dragon form and becomes untethered from the island. Momo moves the island out from under him. Luffy dunks the dragon. I’m expecting one last clash, or a short delay to wrap up the Orochi stuff and let the water finish flowing through the castle, and then it all ends. But where does Kaido land? We seem to be a little way back from the capital still, as nice as it would be for him to land in the streets or crash through Orochi’s palace for all to see. Maybe into the pit with Big Mom? There’d still be room to drop Onigashima on top of it to seal them in, if Oda wants to go that way.

It’s good being able to feel like the end is so close after all this time, even if it might be another two chapters before we actually get there. Add another chapter to properly land Onigashima, wherever that ends up happening, and the fight is done by the halfway point of volume 104, leaving the back half of the volume open for the rollercoaster of post-battle reveals and lore dumps.

This text was originally written for Arlong Park forums’ discussion thread.

I think it’s safe to say from the shifting focus here that we’re back to the start of a new volume. Some people definitely won’t like the change of pace, especially on the weekly read, but it was almost definitely a necessary step to wrap up the billion subplots of this battle, and hey, the art is pretty nice throughout.

Let’s not be too quick to assume the mysterious figures in the cover story are Blackbeard’s men making their move. He’s still going to be at his home base for another week from when the cover story is taking place. The Reverie hasn’t happened yet, and an invasion of Big Mom’s territory by Blackbeard would definitely have made the news at some point during that arc. More likely it’s some combination of a Germa counterattack, Pudding’s play to help Sanji’s family, or Pekoms (and a mysterious other party left over from the battle) stepping in.

Hopefully Luffy’s declaration puts the idea of possession to rest, even Zunesha insists it hears Joyboy.

I really enjoy the action here with Luffy and Kaido’s attacks both totally reshaping each other’s body as they fight. It’s somehow ridiculous and brutal all at the same time. The smoke from the fires down below only just now starting to billow up feels like something of a lost opportunity. Imagine the rooftop atmosphere with billowing smoke and clouds of embers whipping past during the dramatic pauses. Still, doing it now makes for a surprisingly smooth segue to the rest of the chapter.

I keep saying this, but Onigashima is one of the series’ best locations and being able to slowly track its deterioration and destruction toward the conflagration we see cutting back to the castle has been a joy. I can really emphasise with Chopper’s panic over the size of the fire and feeling helpless not knowing where his friends are or if they can get out. We’ve seen how much time and fighting it took the alliance just to get a relative hold over the terriroty of the castle with its complex, multi-floored layout – there’s no chance at all for an evacuation effort. And when we do get interior shots for the characters trapped in there, the foregrounds are cluttered with flaming debris, the backgrounds showing pieces of the ceiling still falling, the flames closing in claustrophobicly from every side. The place is literally coming down around them and they’re trapped. It’s a very real feeling disaster scenario.

Brook being mistaken for a really gnarly burn victim is hilarious though. A fantastic gag in the middle of an tense set piece, as One Piece is meant to be.

And it’s a really clever solution to combine Zunesha’s showers, Raizo’s scrolls and Jinbe’s water manipulation. That’s thinking outside the box! I’m sure some are disappointed that Nami and Zeus were dismissed as an option so quickly, but I think it makes sense. Maybe a supercharged Zeus could fill the roof of the dome, but the castle is the main source of the danger, and it goes all the way to the ceiling. We’ve never seen Zeus get amorphous enough to fill in every room of the top floor of a building that big or generate enough rain to put the whole thing out, so I think it’s fair to write him off for the task. And I love that the Jinbe solution gives the impression in paces of the water crashing down between panels. It’s a really fun bit of art.

Oda, of course, doesn’t care about the idea that that much water moving that fast would probably be just as deadly as the flames, and neither should anyone else. What I am wondering about, however, is what the water means for Orochi, currently burning to death. I guess the slimy bastard is getting another lucky break, only to be caught and finished off by the still-absent Denjiro at the last minute. In fact, it might be the safest bet for next chapter’s focal point.

I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a tad frustrating that the final pages bring us back basically to the mid point of chapter 1027 – Luffy and Kaido’s fight entering an apparent final phase while Yamato and Momo realise they have to use Momo’s flame clouds to save the island from falling. Twenty chapters of wrapping up subplots and secondary fights while Luffy and Kaido push and pull and Momo flip flops on how best to help. There have been plenty of fun, memorable scenes within that time, but god damn this arc is long.

The final page is a real banger though. Definitely good to show some elements of the fanbase that Gear Five can look decently menacing as well as just fun. And I think the contact with the lightning proves that Luffy is still the same kind of rubber he was before, even with all the new powers. Can’t wait to see what he does with that bolt.

This is the kind of chapter that is the exact reason I started staying out of spoiler discussions. You see a summary of it and ask ‘why would we cut away to something so irrelevant in the middle of the climax of Luffy and Kaido’s big fight, sounds like a shit chapter.’ But in context, it’s actually one of Oda’s stronger cutaways. Kaido poses a problem to Luffy – while they slug it out, his friends and allies will burn to death down below. The danger to his friends and allies should be a devastating threat to Luffy, possibly even the distraction that would cost him the fight, but Luffy gets a strong charcter moment in announcing his faith in his crew, and Oda immediately proves him right by showing how his well-chosen friends and allies handle the situation themselves. It’s a well-structured chapter that makes a whole arc problem into a Luffy vs Kaido problem just in time for the solution to serve both sides of the story. You can’t find that sort of heart and soul in a summary, particularly not the super early partial ones. Execution is everything, but so many people seem to want to make their minds up as quickly as possible.

This text was originally written for Arlong Park forums’ discussion thread.

I feel like now that the big reveal’s done, Oda’s just trying to see how far he can push this thing – and it’s so fun! I don’t think we’ve seen this much creativity in the way Luffy’s body changes shape in literally years. What can you say except that there’s nothing in the world quite like One Piece. Although, I’m curious to see how this whole sequence holds up on a reread. Without having to wait a week for each chapter, things are going to swing extremely fast from an optimistic move into the final stage of the fight, to the surprise KO and Luffy’s apparent death, and back to the lightest and funniest things have been since the raid begun. What are future readers going to think of the tonal yo-yo at the end of volume 103?

The painted look on the Jump cover is pretty cool, but I was hoping to see Gear Five in full colour. We’re told in the chapter that Luffy’s hair and clothes have turned white – but does that include his shorts, sandals and the sash at his waist too, or only the shirt that’s the only thing to have visibly changed in the black and white version? The colour spread is a tad understated, but still has a few cute details like half the crew chasing Luffy’s hat while Robin grabs it effortlessly, Zoro seeming to sit cross-legged while actually hanging off the side of the truck, and an extra stylish new kimono for Jinbe.

Kaido noticing that some of Luffy’s abilities aren’t typical to the stated nature of his fruit and spelling it out very clearly is the kind of detail I would have liked to see more of before the reveal. One Piece is so generally goofy and so flexible with the definitions and limits of its powers that it was too easy to dismiss unexplained special moves as just part of Oda’s style and move on.

It is amazing how quickly the weather’s been changing over the course of this fight. When Luffy got beat, it was overcast. Last week, the sky was totally clear. On page three of this chapter, there’s a few clouds circling, and by page six, it’s completely overcast with flashes of lightning. We did see back in Act One of Wano that Kaido’s dragon form tends to bring its own storm as it flies around, but Oda’s definitely just doing whatever he thinks will be most dramatic. It wouldn’t be a problem if the Minks’ Sulong hadn’t made the changing amounts of cloud clover a big plot point several times already. (Marineford went from clear skies to all clouds over the course of a chapter but no one would notice or care because no part of that arc draws your attention to the sky – except maybe debates about whether people whose shadows Moria took during the battle should have died right away in the sunlight)

Luffy going Giant and falling from the sky is an amazing spread and will definitely go down as a defining moment for this arc and the future of the series. Whatever your opinion on the latest chapters as a whole, that’s not a panel anyone’s going to forget anytime soon.

What I think is interesting about the whole Giant sequence is how Oda manages to mostly avoid showing the straw hat while Luffy’s big. The best we get is a scribbly silhouette while he plays jump rope with Kaido (seen below) but it’s too vague to say if it’s grown to fit him or not. Why’s that important? Well, a few years back there was that one really big hat that might just fit on the head of a guy Giant Luffy’s size. But on the other, the rest of his clothes grew along with his body no problem, so we don’t have that much reason to think the hat wouldn’t too. Oda must know what he’s doing making it so ambiguous.

I like that Oda gives us a moment of calm in the middle of all the fighting, and a bit of downtime from the silliness. Luffy runs low on energy, but so does Kaido, grunting and panting and leaning on his club for support. It’s such a small thing, but it speaks volumes about how far Kaido’s been worn down already. The difference in the two fighters’ philosophies is great too. Death completes a man, but wouldn’t you rather be an incomplete man than a complete skeleton? It reminds me of Usopp’s speech on Bushido a little while back. An ideology of life and doing well with your time on the earth, not just your ending, trumps a desire to simply die every time.

I’m a tad worried for Luffy after this fight. Not only has his body been abused worse than we’ve ever seen, it’s pretty likely that Gear Five has some severe consequences. Gear Two burned his lifespan more quickly. Gear Three shrunk his body after use. Gear Four burned out his haki. What fuels Gear Five, and is it connected to Momo noticing Luffy’s voice fading when he slips out of gear during the reprieve?

I haven’t written about the actual beat by beat action of this chapter much because what can you say? It’s some of the most creative and visually unique fighting to ever grace a shonen manga. I’ve never seen this kind of playful rubber hose cartooniness mix with a series as story-drive as One Piece before. But it is a tad difficult to analyse by any existing metric. Luffy obviously feels pain from the huge blow that reshapes his head, but it’s harder than ever say how much damage and of what kind it really is. Taking one of Kaido’s swings head-on is never good, but I have no idea if it’s still as capital B Bad as it when we first arrived on the roof.

This chapter marks the first possible end point for volume 103, which is going to be one hell of a meaty volume for big plot developments. That said, I do want to see what the next chapter looks like before I call this volume spoken for. The cartoon fight and Giant Luffy make for an incredible climax, but I think we could go for a bit more drama for a final panel.

While I still obviously have a couple of reservations about the big Gum Gum development, a week to stew on it and this chapter’s incredible visuals have gone a long way for my appreciation of what it is and what Oda is trying to do with it. Luffy is still Luffy. This is just a Luffy with his strength, flexibility and control over his body amped up to the absolute maximum (hey, could he have achieved similar results with Cipher Pol’s Life Return technique?), plus a wave of euphoria that definitely has something to do with Joyboy, but also that you can imagine anyone feeling if they suddenly got a second wind and burst of strength after being beaten as soundly as Luffy had just been. (Point of comparison: Luffy smiling, jumping around and clapping after Kuma took his pain, even though his last conscious memory should have been an overwhelming enemy bearing down and the whole crew’s survival had not yet been confirmed.) Different interpretations and fan translations that exaggerated the influence of Luffy’s imagination to make him feel like an actual reality warper really muddied the waters last week, but this chapter goes a long way to make clear what Luffy’s current powers are and where his influence ends. The value of waiting and seeing.

I think next week we’re going to start seeing the setup for the Momotaro scene everyone’s been anticipating for. The fight is definitely not over yet, no more than the Doflamingo fight was when Luffy completely dominated him with Gear Four for two chapters. Kaido’s probably going to start adapting to Luffy’s new way of fighting and making his final push (or find some other way to raise the stakes back up, like revealing that Onigashima is in place over the capital and ready to drop), which should ease the minds of those complaining that he doesn’t feel like a threat anymore. Whatever happens, I’m strongly looking forward to it, as always!

This text was originally written for Arlong Park forums’ discussion thread.

Alright, so Luffy has been combined with a legendary sun deity. Short of the One Piece itself, this is the series’ biggest possible reveal, right? A complete recontextualisation of Luffy’s powers, which have been central since literally chapter one. My gut says this isn’t the greatest twist in the world – it’s less of an ‘oh, everything makes sense in hindsight’ and more of a ‘never in a million years would I have said this is where it’s going.’ But that’s not to say this new information has no synnergy at all with what we knew previously.

For example, the idea of the Devil Fruit having a mind of its own and influencing its own fate One Ring-style fits in easily. Zoan fruits can be fed to inanimate objects to create a hybrid with the mind of the animal. Evidence suggests the reason that Zoans were the only fruits that could be imitated in Smile form is because you could use living animals to sythisise them. The old wives tales told about the fruits at Ennies Lobby said they put actual devils inside your body. So if the Elders say the fruit tried to escape on its own, I see that as a logical extension of all these points.

Not mention all the symbolism of lions, sunflowers, suns and Luffy that have been in play for a long time now. There’s not nothing to go on here, although it’s little enough you might be called a crackpot prior to this chapter if you’d try to go all in a theory based on only that.

I’m interested to see what the relationship between Mythical Zoans and the creatures they represent really is. We haven’t seen any evidence in-universe of a phoenix or a natural-born dragon (depending on how canon you want Monsters to be), and no one’s arguing that the Buddha really lived in OP world’s history, so do we say that these creatures only exist in the form of their representative Devil Fruits, and are otherwise fictional? (If the mythological creatures are only extinct, surely they would be Ancient Zoans instead, not that we should be putting too much stock in presumed classifications and names after this week.) And then was it the chicken or the egg when it comes to the fruits and the myths?

In any case, I think the mythological angle spares Luffy from accusations of no longer being himself – or of never having been himself. If the will of the Buddha inside Sengoku’s fruit couldn’t keep him from earning a reputation as a powerful military leader and kept him in the service of an evil empire built on the backs of slaves, it’s safe to say Nika isn’t making Luffy do anything he wouldn’t already want to do. Is it a bit of a cheap coincidence that Luffy so naturally wants freedom and brings joy and just happens to eat the fruit of the god of all that? Sure, but so is a guy called Smoker getting smoke powers and a guy called Orochi getting Orochi powers. It hits a bit different when it’s the main character, but it’s nothing that hasn’t been done before.

That said, after every other Mythical Zoan was something you could find in real world legends, it’s a tad cheap for this one to be an all new made-up god with the exact traits needed for the prior evidence to make sense – a being of rubber and fire sounds made up to fit the clues, rather than clues being given of its existence. It’s not something that feels guessable, which can be a frustrating experience as a reader.

It’s funny that Kaido talked about Luffy trying to be Joyboy, as if that name was the title, leaving us to assume Nika was perhaps the last person to carry that mantle. But he got it wrong, didn’t he? Nika is the mantle and Joyboy was the last to use it. I wonder if we’ll see how the two names got twisted up, or if it’s just a natural result of the World Government’s attempts to erase history.

What I really would have wanted to see leading up to this twist, in hindsight, is Nika being better established long before Who’s Who brings him up. A scratching of the name or the silhouette carved into a wall in Impel Down, for example, lingered on just long enough by the camera to make it stick out to hardcore fans. I know we’ve had mentions of sun gods since forever (hell, there’s a thread I started on the topic still on the first page of this board) but not enough follow through between them and the ideas of liberty and broken chains and happiness and rubber now being ascribed to them. Maybe that was meant to click into place on its own when Who’s Who named Nika for us i chapter 1018, but that feels like too little too late for my tastes.

I like when I can reread a story and go ‘it was right in front of me all along!’ but my best recollections of One Piece lore still have me clutching at straws to find the build-up to it.

I’m also not sold on what exactly Luffy’s new powers are. I guess we’ll be seeing more fire for obvious reasons, but One Piece has been so cartoony from the start it’ll take a lot for this new imagination-driven toolset to actually stand out. Like yeah, it’s a big shift in tone for Luffy to be able to pick up Kaido and slam him back and forth like he’s a loony tune, but he did that to Oars too. I suppose it could be read as a point in this twist’s favour that it feels so in line with what we’ve seen Luffy do previously – it’s just more blatant about bending the laws of physics for laughs now. We’re probably going to be debating til the end of time what powerups or mid-fight goofball moments were unconscious manifestations of Nika’s powers. To what extent can “the most ridiculous power in the world” actually warp reality to get its user’s way? I’m not going to go too hard on that point though – this chapter was for the big reveal and a spectacle set-piece. Rules and limits come later. But I do want to see them get at least a tiny bit better defined in the future.

This text was originally written for Arlong Park forums’ discussion thread.

Just a month ago I was wondering about the logic in putting the fall of Big Mom at the midpoint of volume 103. How could Oda possibly find a volume-ender to top that, I wondered. Well now, on the volume’s eighth chapter, we’re starting to see the end take shape. And it is absolutely going to be a big one. At this rate, volume 103 could be one of the most pivotal (and perhaps controversial) in the series’ run.

Oda really wants to emphasise that Luffy is down after that hit. The “silence” sound effect isn’t often used for living things – and was memorably placed over Cora’s body when he died. And it ties into two different characters saying Luffy’s “voice” has disappeared. That’s scary stuff. Even after being shot four times and going totally limp in Doflamingo’s grip, Law had a faint Voice for Luffy to detect. Pretty worrying for no one to hear even a whisper from him. And even if it wasn’t that, a ten minute haki recharge in the current situation isn’t something Kaido would let him live through. Despite all the signs, I find it a little hard to believe Oda killed Luffy for real here, but either way it’s clear he’s not returning to the battle under his own power.

For the fascist-enabling, fight-interfering bastards that they are, CP0 come across pretty likable in this chapter. The boss has brass balls to stand still and accept Kaido’s wrath with such composure, and his comrade returning the tip of the hat from his room in the castle is pure class. Such professionalism! It’s a lot of characterisation in very little time, and it plays well with them hiding in plain sight in the story until last week like the spies they’re meant to be. I’ve been very pleasantly surprised about how Oda’s handled these guys, now he just needs to give them names, damn it!

I appreciate Kaido not screwing around with locking in his victory this time. Instead of taking the slow way through the castle and getting distracted, he just plunges through the ceiling, declares his victory to the largest gathering of the two armies in person and dares anyone to challenge him on it. The shots of him fulling the airspace of the dome are really impressive pieces of work. The scale of the battle here so cool. And as a bonus spot of continuity, Oda’s remembered to show the damage to the bathhouse from when Marco smashed King into it in chapter 1006.

It’s really satisfying seeing Nami be the one to come out and defy Kaido to his face. We’ve already had a big moment where she declares her faith in her captain to an overwhelming enemy at great personal risk, and now she does it again. And he wasn’t even talking to her directly. Not exactly a pragmatic choice, but I’m all about her bravery.

Again, Oda pushes the idea that it’s all over now. Kaido is pissed and offering no quarter. The slavery stuff and demanding Momo surrender personally isn’t really a change from what he said he was going to do before the raid, but expressions here go a long way to sell the threat.

I don’t love Momo suggesting surrender as much. I can only hope he didn’t actually hear what Kaido said above the Performance Floor, because if he’s still giving in and subjecting his country to that it’s a sad move for his character. Yamato gets a good moment out of convincing him to keep going at least. Do they take the long death with no chance of salvation, or the quick one with a small chance of victory? The choice should be obvious. I do like Yamato standing on Momo’s body and grabbing him by the whiskers to make the point. I wish we’d been given a better look at it instead of just the ultra-wide establishing shot and the extreme closeups.

And then, the big finale. I really, really don’t know what to make of this and hate having to wait through a break week for more info. People have been losing their minds since the spoilers hit with so many interpretations flying around, but I’m stuck on this feeling that we don’t know enough yet.

We zoom in on Luffy’s still body. There’s a “Don”-type sound effect. Oda uses these all the time for emphasis, but they can be diagetic as well. So is it drama, or are we hearing Luffy’s heart beat after the silence from before? It is the same sound effect used for Enel’s heart starting back up in chapter 275… The solitary beat becomes a rhythm with music notes and everything and Zunesha calls it the “Drums of Liberation.” Given that the regular Don sound effect, that Oda’s used liberally for every big moment and character introduction from literally chapter one, is often interpreted as something of a punctuating drumbeat, there’s some interesting implications for how the whole series has been framed so far. How often have we heard these Drums of Liberation?

And then the big one. Zunesha calls Luffy Joyboy. Luffy grins. Steam rises from his body and the top of his head seems to bubble up. I think it’s interesting that Luffy’s shirt is only shaded instead of inked in like usual, and with such deep shadows, giving the impression of an intense light on the area. Is that just for the drama, or part of whatever’s awakening here? The framing also keps us from seeing Luffy’s body directly turn to goo. It could be that this thing is enveloping him instead.

It feels to me like a lot of people are being quick to assume the worst about reincarnations and prophecies and all the rest. This is a huge cliffhanger that leaves a lot of questions and next to no answers. No one knows exactly what’s happening with it yet, so assuming any answer, good or bad, is a mistake. I remember when we first learned that the samurai had come through time and how so many people lost their minds talking about how it would ruin the story and create paradoxes and this and that, only for Oda to impose just the right rules on the power to make it work for the story. There were smaller meltdowns over the potential of Tama’s fruit, the appearance of the fake Oden and the awakening of Sanji’s Vinsmoke powers, but all of those turned out fine as well. While every arc has had ups and downs through the middle, I don’t think I’ve ever been left wanting by the endings. Oda’s good at bringing characters and themes and ideas together and making sure it all forms a pleasing final note. The contrast between how gullible and frustrating Dressrosa’s civilians could be during the arc and the power of their redemptive moment when they play up their own apparent naivety to protect the fleet from the Marines comes to mind as an example of Oda sticking the landing at the last moment, long after the readers had given up on on finding anything to like in those guys.

There are good reasons One Piece has lasted nearly 25 years. There are good reasons I’ve been about to stay invested week to week for more than half that time, and why some of our veterans have kept up to date even longer. Whatever’s happening with Luffy right now, I trust Oda to have a plan and know where he’s going with it. His track record has earned him that much.

This text was originally written for Arlong Park forums’ discussion thread.

Oh. Didn’t see that coming. Wow.

RIP to the idea of wrapping the fight up in volume 103. Probably…

Drake coming back only to fail to take down the CP0 boss (surely he deserves a name after this one) is a real shame. I was cheering for the guy to get one last shot after all the fighting he’s done – at least a mutual KO. Will he get up again? I mean, Apoo survived a finger pistol to the neck and kept running, but Drake might be pushing even Oda’s limits for second winds if he does the same.

I’m not the biggest fan of these Snakeman attack volleys if I’m honest. They get just a tad samey when you start comparing all the panels of Kaido being hit from multiple directions at once.

So Kaido doesn’t think the Gear Four skillset quite matches the properties of rubber. This mysterious fruit thing gets curiouser and curiouser. While it’s hard to imagine Oda committing to a full renaming of everything to do with the main character’s powers, it’s past time to start making your peace with there being more to the Gum Gum than meets the eye. I don’t think that’s the end of the world.

Kaido drunkenly trying to flirt with Luffy is the bisexual representation we never knew we needed  The love heart in the sound effects does a long way to sell it. All tongue-in-cheek comments aside though, I love that we’re still seeing drunk Kaido. I’d been so sure it was just a one chapter gimmick, but it persists!

I really like Kaido breaking out the future sight and using his serpentine form to twist through the barrage. It’s a creative way to replicate the way logia users with high-level CoO morph their bodies to dodge attacks.

The overhead shot of the island as Kaido flies up with Luffy in his mouth shows how much of the outside has already crumbled away. It begs the question of where the Sunny ended up after Franky concealed it following their landing. Is it still on the island, and will there be an easy way to get it to safety (let alone back to water) when the whole thing drops? But hey, Kaido blasting Luffy straight through the island makes me feel confident of Luffy eventually dunking him straight through and dropping the whole place on his head.

Oda is going a long way to sell the idea that Luffy is out of time and won’t be able to keep fighting if he drops Gear Four again. Are we going to end up with a Doflamingo-style “one more attack” situation after the haki recharge, or are things going to be even more dire than that?

It’s not really clear how long the exchange of blows that covers most of this chapter is meant to take, but CP0 guy climbs a long way through a lot of fire to get where he is at the end. Oda’s been pretty good at keeping locations straight through this battle and not teleporting anyone across the island without giving them enough offscreen time to justify the trip, but CP0 stretches things a little. Still, it makes for a genuinely surprising ending. I never would have foreseen Luffy getting this kind of parallel with Oden. And with Law and Kid making it clear last week they’ve got nothing left in the tank after Big Mom… things are looking bad.

Oda did a great job misleading me into thinking CP0 would be a non-factor in the fight. Oh, they’re just in Wano for the worldbuilding, for their relationship to Orochi. They’re reporting in, not getting involved. They’re a narrative device to show the numbers on the battlefield. No wait, they’re mobilising to give the fightless stragglers someone to confront. And then they come out of nowhere to bring disaster to the hero at a critical moment, right when you had them totally dismissed. Great narrative smoke and mirrors there. And so fitting to have the secret agents hiding in plain sight and striking from the shadows. I know some people think CP9 are too weak in retrospect to hold the rank and importance they were given, but if all of Cipher Pol can act this shrewdly to influence events in the World Government’s favour it goes a long way to explain them not needing to confront high weight class pirates in one on one fights.

I don’t really get why CP0 uses Iron Body after he grabs Luffy. Is it an armament coating to avoid being hurt by the haki that covers most of his Gear Four body, or just to make himself more rigid to more strongly impede Luffy’s attack or what?

While I was definitely surprised, and I will definitely be on the edge of my seat for the next chapter with no idea what will happen, I’ve meant what I’ve been saying for weeks about having a decent bit of battle fatigue. Just when I was getting used to the idea of getting into the post-fight portion of the arc, this is a huge setback. The Doflamingo version of this development took five chapters to play out to the end of the fight. Two more months on the current schedule. I trust that it’s all part of the plan, and I’m sure I’ll feel different when I can reread the arc as a whole, but god damn does the ending feel far away.

I guess like Kaido himself, I’ve got some pretty mixed feelings about this big moment.

So what next? Well, it’s not looking good for CP0. The face hag didn’t survive interfering with Kaido’s fight, and he was by all appearances sober at the time, so there’s our first order of business. And then I guess Kaido tries to renew his plan to squash the capital, overpowering Momo’s pull on the island. Perhaps then the nine shadows and/or the Momotaro homage rises up to delay him until Luffy staggers back to his feet for the finishing move. I think that covers all the super obvious stuff, but Oda must know how much those points have been talked through already. There’ll be some surprises in how it plays out, or in what exactly plays out, I’m sure.

This text was originally written for Arlong Park forums’ discussion thread.

After months of predicting it basically every chapter, we really do seem to finally be in the wrap-up stage of the battle. I’m not sure if Oda will manage to get Kaido’s fall by the end of volume 103, but it’s probably going to be close, the way things are building at the minute. Imagine what a landmark volume it could end up being if two Emperors fell at once though!

Pudding on the cover has surprising strength to punch the Vinsmokes’ metal skin without hurting herself. Maybe we’ve all underestimated her a little. Or maybe it’s a One Piece classic “Fist of Love.” Just leave that hanging there for the shippers.

The Zunesha thing feels a tad drawn out left as it is. We know there’ll be no contest against those tiny ships when it’s given the order, and the Voice of All Things shenanigans going on imply it can communicate with Momo even at this distance. There’s not really a reason to hang on for the next development like there was when it first showed up so suddenly – the outcome from here is obvious. What is interesting is Yamato calling Momo the one to bring the Dawn (a term that definitely deserves its capital D at this stage) and Momo rejecting his father’s will. The certainty of Momo’s role from Yamato is something to remember for everyone operating under the reasonable assumption that Luffy would be the one (even if in the guise of Joyboy, Nika, or whatever else). And then there’s Momo. I’ve got legitimate respect for him making his own assessment of the state of the world and his father’s goals. Oden was flawed and did make a lot of mistakes in his time, leading to the current state of affairs. There is nothing but courage and maturity in being able to see and acknowledge that when you’re only eight years old and your dad’s death was like a month ago. I know some readers will dismiss him as a coward anyway. I also know the narrative will probably make opening Wano’s borders the right thing to do regardless of this scene. But regardless of all that, I think it’s a great scene for Momo.

From my previous review: “Fuku isn’t going to take a full chapter to deal with. I imagine he’s going down basically the next second he’s onscreen.”

“lol,” I say as we smash cut to the narration confirming Fuku is down. “lmao”

Jinbe saving Raizo is great though. And I’m interested in what this plan is that Raizo is talking about. I hope it gives Denjiro and Kawamatsu their moment in the sun, whatever it is. Those two are the only ones left without any obvious finale or solo moment during the raid. But Denjiro was last seen the castle, I think, and Kawamatsu was down on the Performance Floor, so know knows what it could take to bring them together. My guess is that the plan goes with what Hiyori is doing and ends with Orochi’s downfall.

And speaking of, the moment Hiyori reveals herself seems to bring the Orochi plot thread within one scene of being concluded. I still think Denjiro is the most likely to deliver the killing blow, but who knows what could happen. I do like the seaston nails making a comeback though. We know that different levels of seastone purity can affect how weak the victim is made, but Orochi not noticing he’d been stabbed at all suggests to be you can refine seastone to the point of giving no physical weakness or sensation whatsoever besides turning devil fruit powers off. There’s probably not any wider implication to that, but it’s cool that it exists.

I’ll be honest, I really did expect Izo to take care of the CP0 threat in its entirety. It speaks to their strength that he could only manage mutual destruction with a single one (even if they were both likely already wounded to some degree. I hadn’t even noticed until the call came in that the third member of the group hadn’t gone with the others. I must have imagined him being present for their chase after Robin and the clash with Drake and Apoo. Without names, it’s too easy to think of these guys as a collective rather than three individuals that could act on their own. Drake seems set to finish off the leader (good, he deserves a better ending than his unceremonious defeat a few chapters ago) but that third guy remains out of reach. Maybe he’ll be the one to escape and tell the story of what happened to the Government. And then, who’s going to stop Apoo and Inbi?

I’m no longer a naysayer on the Gum Gum being the fruit. Hard to imagine many other reasons for the sudden switch to targeting Luffy. I’m trusting Oda to make whatever’s going on here work with the story. Over more than a dozen years following this story week to week he’s very rarely let me down, so I’m affording him some trust to develop this idea right.

The Elders’ “Worst-case scenario” sounds pretty specific. Could they be referring to the same mysterious event everyone else calls the Dawn of the World, or is it something else entirely? It kinda implies to me that the important devil fruit has a usecase to fulfill, rather than just being symbolic of a former enemy of the Government.

The sword outside the dome is back to being literally ten storeys tall after shrinking to six for a bunch of chapters. It was still way too big for Kid to have used either way, but after it came up in the last chapter’s thread I’m really cued into the size changes.

Franky saving Zoro is a nice touch. With no sign of the reaper figure around, I get the feeling we’ll have to wait until after the battle when Zoro properly recovers before he tells us what he saw and what it means. But with all of CP0 accounted for this week, we can probably rule out it being a living person we know (long odds for Caribou, but still), and say it actually was either a hallucination or a legitimate spiritual entity. And it could be worth remembering that despite looking a tad bloodied, Franky did his main fight inside his mech 90% of the way. Of all the Strawhats, he might just have the most fighting strength to spare at this point.

Hey, Usopp and Nami are hiding out in the place they first got cornered by Ulti and Pageone. I like that Marco’s still playing healer. And hey, that hole in the Performance Floor is a hell of a lot bigger than it we really got to see it being in the last chapter. But it only makes sense given how big Big Mom got. And look how much the destruction is adding up. The right side is almost completely destroyed (which is consistent with the buildings Big Mom got rammed into, stuck to and had dropped on her in the last couple chapters).

The mini flashback certainly makes the end of Kaido feel close, but I’m putting a lot more stock in Luffy’s “final Gear Four” statement. I don’t think Oda’s going to make a liar out of him at this stage. This is it. But will we get a new form if he’s gone Snakeman now? I’m going to say yes. Sure, we’ve never seen him switch between forms after going into the gear before, but that is a low hurdle to handwave away.

There are as few as four chapters left in volume 103, or as many as six if Oda wants to stretch it into a really long one. It could really be happening in the next handful of chapters. I’m not going to set my hopes too high for a quick resolution with Orochi, Apoo, Inbi and two members of CP0 still on the board, but it’s definitely feeling achievable. I’m started to feel anxious for it! Not just because we’ve been building toward this moment for so long, but also because the end of Kaido means the end of the series’ penultimate battle. Everything that comes after it will be endgame material, and that’s something I have a lot of conflicted feelings about after having One Piece as a constant in my life for so long.