Captain M Entertainment

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

Contrary to popular opinion, I loved most of this chapter, Oda’s really going all out for the climax of the battle. Colour pages next week to keep the hype going are just gravy on top of it all. The title, while poetic, was an enigma to me, even reading the wikipedia page on the story it’s drawn from, until I saw Sandman’s twitter connecting it to Orochi’s speech. I have no idea how this could have been translated that would have made the connection obvious. Even the scanlation, with its willingness to use notes to explain things, apparently missed that Orochi was quoting the same play as the title, so while it explained that the title was a literary reference, they didn’t actually explain how it connected to the chapter. This might just be one of those things where if you know, you know, and if you don’t, it’s too bad. Oh, and I’m not one to read super far into cover pages, but Brook is an interesting choice to put alongside the soldier ants. Maybe Oda hasn’t forgotten that Brook used to be a soldier himself…

The battle between Drake and Apoo resolves in unexpected fashion with an alliance rather than a defeat, and most of the conspicuously absent Numbers are there too. Most of the Numbers have been kinda underwhelming so far, but Inbi has a brilliant design. Really digging that classical devil look. The question is where this strange alliance will lead. I can’t see them wanting to be enemies to the Strawhats even after the battle. I’d never have guessed the Numbers betraying Kaido either – given their Oni/giant similarities, there had seemed to be a kind of kinship there. If Oda’s making the Numbers more independent, he may be laying groundwork for the long-speculated upon Elbaf Arc. If the goal of the Numbers becomes to peacefully reconnect with the other giants, it could be just the excuse needed to draw Luffy (and Usopp) in that direction. But that’ll have to come later…

I’ve been saying for a while that Punk Hazard is more important to the New World than any of us could have guessed at the time, but I never would have guessed Kin’s severed lowered half, talking farts and getting stuck on things to be such a vital callback. Oda does it again. So Kin, Kiku and Kanjuro are clinging to life. I’m not a huge fan of the development, but I’ve come to accept these things. Booktuber-come-One Piece fan Merphy Napier said it best in her video: “They’re basically Pokemon. When they fight they faint, they don’t die.” That’s just how this world works and while I don’t think it’s ideal storytelling, I made my peace with it long ago. The Kanjuro bit goes down easier with Orochi helping to frame it as an encore to his previous act rather than a full revival. Very fitting.

(And continuing the pokemon metaphor, I’ve always thought Luffy plays with exp share on for the crew, so they all get stronger together every arc even if they don’t get a dedicated fight to learn from.)

Despite the simplicity, I really like the look of Kanjuro’s fire spirit. Oda did a really good job with the transparency effect for a guy drawing in black and white. And the flames burning over the panel borders at the top is a really nice touch that helps it feel big and wild and dangerous. The spirit also bears a striking resemblance to Kanjuro’s look in Orochi’s memories of recruiting him, making it really seem like that child’s vengeful ghost, off to be a bastard one last time.

Yamato’s section gives us a much-needed side view of the dome’s layout. It’s a credit to Oda’s consistency that I was able to produce a comparable (albeit not totally accurate) map all the way back in May. Hey, this one even shows the hole the fake Oden blew in the roof. Love that attention to detail. Curious too, that if the map is part of what Yamato’s thinking, he seems to know that the skull has a bottom jaw buried beneath the surface of the entrance. No sign of that visually in the scenes of the alliance landing, so how does he know it?

Glad we get some more of Kid, Law and Big Mom right away. As always, I love consistent environmental destruction – the hole blown by Yamato’s handcuffs and the place Momo crashed into the wall are both still there beneath the new opening blasted by Big Mom. Oda’s really tearing this place apart, but all the damage matters.

I wasn’t expecting Awakening to be revealed so casually and by characters other than Luffy. Consistent with Doflamingo and Katakuri, the effect seems to be applying the power to things that usually wouldn’t be directly effected by it. But we’ve only ever seen Paramecia Awakenings, so who’s to say other types will work the same way, or what would happen with some of the more abstract Paramecias. Oh, and what’s with Law’s new room name? Is KROOM meant to be some Japanese medical thing that just doesn’t translate?

Getting back to environmental destruction though, it looks like the Performance Floor is going to be the final destination for Big Mom, and the fight is going to wreak absolute devastation on it. Two whole buildings have been wiped off the floor already! And conceptually, using magnetism to weaponise the scaffolding and rebar of the structure around you is really neat. This is one of those bits where I think an anime has the potential to really go above an beyond – really thinking about how those buildings would deflate and implode after their steel skeletons have been ripped out, and show that process in a much more detailed, tactile way than any manga artist could hope to show (except maybe Katsuhiro Otomo). The actual One Piece anime we have now probably won’t try to simulate the collapse in that much detail because it would take much more time and energy than their production schedule allows, but I can dream.

Great chapter, lots of fun and exciting developments building up to the climax of the arc. I hope Oda keeps up this kind of momentum next week, maybe by wrapping up Fukurokuju and Raizo and finally putting Orochi’s last head on the chopping block. We’ve very close to just Calamities and Emperors left on the battlefield. After so long, the hype is enormous.

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

Oh, it’s good to be back! The last chapter felt like it ended kind of in the middle of Sanji’s scene, not quite feeling like a natural break point, so it’s good to go straight back into it for this one. I appreciate that Sanji’s negative reaction to his new powers stems from a fear that he’ll lose his emotions the way his brothers did. Getting anxious about turning into someone else or losing your humanity is a much more existential angle than “I don’t want these cool superpowers because they have my dad’s cooties on them” and I’m legitimately curious to see the development of it. I hope this is the new Sanji angle I’ve been wanting for years now.

Seeing Big Mom in action here really emphasises how downplayed she’s been as a fighter. Whole Cake Island was mostly running away and the rooftop brawl was decidedly Kaido-centric, but she’s turning out to be great in a stand-and-fight battle. I love the unhinged look on her face, and the way her poses show momentum and impact despite her rotund, seemingly inflexible figure. If she’s to go down here, there better be a few scenes of fighting left. It makes you wonder what could have been if Oda had decided give a chapter or two to Luffy’s attempt to fight her at the wedding, rather than letting him throw one punch before the retreat.

I feel Killer is somewhat slept on by the fanbase, even after holding his own among the monsters on the roof, but this chapter makes it clear that Oda’s got a whole lot more affection for the guy than us readers ever expected. His fast, acrobatic fighting style makes for some incredibly dynamic panels.

It’s perhaps a little odd that Hawkins took damage when Zoro attacked his strawman at the start of this arc but is unaffected by Killer’s beheading of it now. But since it was powered by different cards each time, I guess there’ll be a copout SBS explanation about the Heirophant transferring damage to the user while Death does not, or only reversed taking damage if the card is reversed or something equally contrived. Takedowns in Wano have been unexpectedly but pleasingly brutal. Hawkins joins the ranks of Who’s Who and Black Maria in suffering violent finshers, but taking it to the next level with some permanent disfigurement in at least his lost arm, if not also his slashed-up face. The visual of the deck scattering around him is an obvious end point to a character who uses cards to fight, but damned if it doesn’t look great every time. Hawkins’ role in the story ends a little flat. He’s a character with some great visual design – especially his final scarecrow form, but very little of note in the personality department. I wonder if we’ll ever get back to the man with a 1% chance of survival…

With Kid and Law now ready to fight Big Mom properly, the final stage of the battle draws ever closer. I think we might get one or two pages of their fight with her next week to make it clear Kid’s a force to reckon with now that he’s not hobbled, but then we need to cut away to deal with the last of the scrubs like Apoo, Orochi and Fukurokuju. I still think it’s likely we’ll be down to just Big Mom and Kaido as enemies before the end of this volume, but Oda definitely needs to keep his foot on the gas if things are going to reach a conclusion that feels decently paced.

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

It only makes sense to go from a Zoro chapter to a Sanji one, just to keep things even. The colour spread here is definitely going to go down as a favourite. Oda would be a Smash Bros fan, wouldn’t he? A few of the costume shoutouts are obvious (and similar to the amiibo collab from years ago) but Jinbario is something I never knew how much I needed in my life.

Going back to Cipher Pol for more than just a numbers update was unexpected. My gut feeling is that Oda’s setting things up for after the battle, we’re not going to get more of this in the next few chapters. The World Government ships seem to be about as close to Wano as the Big Mom pirates (could they run into each other?) but as with Big Mom’s crew, I don’t think there’s any chance of them making it up to Wano until after the Raid is done. Still, this setup is a sign of how close the end is going to be after Wano is done, if Oda’s getting ready to immediately pit Luffy and the Government against each other. Some people are speculating they’ll succeed in getting Robin to spark a final conflict, but there’s no chance Oda would repeat Ennies Lobby that blatantly. This is more likely to call back to Robin’s faith in her friends protecting her back on Zou.

Hey, what if the World Government forces arrive during Luffy’s customary days of sleep after the big fight? Are we going to have a fun sequence in which either the Strawhats or the surviving Scabbards have to show what they can do without Luffy’s help? There’s some decent potential in that.

I’m not sure what Yamato thinks he can actually do about the explosives under the dome. It doesn’t seem like the tech in this world would lend itself to complex bombs that can be made safe by taking fuses out or whatever. Wouldn’t it be more like a big pile of gunpowder and nitroglycerin, liable to explode on impact? And weird to see two minor members of Law’s crew just hanging around up on Onigashima. It was never really made clear how many of them he brought with him. The big guy looks like Jean Bart, who I thought was down on the Wano mainland, but maybe there’s another large dude in the crew.

I’m amazed that Oda was able to top the Triceracopter so soon, but Brachiosnakeus sure has done it. There are just no words for Oda’s insane creativity. Every part of that sequence was hilarious.

Sanji actually getting Vinsmoke powers is something I didn’t expect at all. I’m not the biggest Sanji fan, so I don’t have the deepest emotional involvement in his arc of being just human with a strong heart being ruined by bloodline superpowers or anything dramatic like that, but I hope Oda’s got a plan for some future character beats following his acceptance or rejection of the new powers. Like I said, I haven’t liked how Sanji’s been written since basically Ennies Lobby, but I’m always open minded about Oda finding something better to do with him.

A slightly flatter chapter than the last few leading into the break, but Wano’s climax is building, and we’re close enough that Oda’s starting to look at what comes after the battle.

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

We get a cool, actiony chapter for the likely opening of volume 102. There’s not a lot of substance that can be said about it – all the main plot threads are just chugging along their expected paths – but that doesn’t make it a bad chapter. I’m surprised time wasn’t taken to wrap up at least one of the ongoing minor fights though. With five minutes on the clock and – I think – most people hoping to see the fighting wrap up by the end of this volume, every chapter that bit part enemies like Apoo and Fukurokuju keep standing through is an odd one.

I enjoyed Luffy grappling Kaido’s neck and wanting to have the final boss all to himself. It’s that classic Luffy levity the fights with Kaido haven’t really left room for. And I guess the Momotaro theory is off the table if it’s 1v1 to the end from here. Oh well. I’ve really got no strong feelings about that. I barely knew the classic story existed before it came up in One Piece, so I’ve got no attachment to it, interesting as it might have been.

Momo looks well and truly out of proportion near the whole flying island at the start of page 8. I don’t think the sequence tells us much we already know – in my mind it’s been a given for ages that Momo would need to use flame clouds to move Onigashima, but I’m sure the new revelation that the island would act as a bomb silences a few naysayers who were thinking Kaido just needed to be beaten early so the island could drop somewhere uninhabited. Yamato’s imagine spot of the island exploding is a pretty sick panel though. On the other hand, what does the revelation about the castle being packed with explosives mean after Oda repeatedly emphasised that it’s been set on fire and the flames are spreading…? Maybe an explosion of that kind could be just the solution Oda needs for the issue of Kaido being too strong to let live but not wanting Luffy to make an unambiguous onscreen kill. Kaido, barely conscious after being beaten up by Luffy, might even reject the chance to evacuate the island alongside everyone else (maybe onto the top of Mount Fuji) to accept it as the memorable death he wanted – after all, the sky island skydive proves it doesn’t have to be a death by battle to be good enough for him.

The flight scene gives us another confirmation that Kaido is being worn down by all the damage he’s taking. This is not new information – the moment he dodged Luffy’s Red Hawk instead of taking it head on also emphasised that the damage was racking up – but it’s a good moment for a strong reminder. Kaido’s tough, but he’s not invincible, and he’s definitely going to fall.

Man, the idea of another Zoro and Sanji tag team with them fighting back to back was too good to last. We don’t even see Sanji in this chapter. I hope Oda manages to get back to him and how he avoided King’s rampage next week. King’s presumed hybrid form is a simple but enormously effective design. Especially that imposing silhouette it casts coming out of the smoke and dust in the Right Brain Castle passage toward Zoro and Franky. I can see that slow, menacing villain walk play out in my head so easily. The way the wings themselves act as blades and smear with the line of action when he does his flying attack is great too. I hope we see more of this form.

Zoro doesn’t know about Momo and Yamato being out there in the sky when he uses his flying slash like it’s a Super Smash Bros up special. Lucky he didn’t hurt anyone! Imagine if all the imagery of Ryuma slaying dragons and Zoro mirroring him was meant to lead not to the nonsense Zoro Kills Kaido theories, but to him accidentally taking out Momo in his recovery effort. I would laugh.

King’s face becomes a point of interest along with his heritage. Skin and hair colour haven’t typically meant much in One Piece, so there’s not much to read into this top corner being revealed. I’m not even convinced his skin is meant to be read as darkened yet, if I’m honest. It might just have a screentone over it so it can be easily distinguished from the hairline and wrecked goggle – something the vein and markings could otherwise have complicated. Oda doesn’t often make a screentone a permanent part of character design. Aside from Shanks’s hair and Momo’s flaming mane, all other character models are stark black and white. Even previous darker skinned characters like Miss Monday, Caribou and the (poorly aged) Kumate Tribe have no special effect applied to their skin in the black and white art. And Wano has already taught us a lot about assuming hair colours based on the black and white art. So uh, we’ve basically still got next to zero concrete information about King’s real appearance aside from him probably having a tattoo. Skin tone could be anything, hair colour could be anything. Nothing’s certain at all!

All in all, an alright chapter, but slower and more recappy than the last few. Hopefully that’s just to set the scene for returning volume readers and we can get back into the meat of the battle next week.

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

Oh man, I thought like the last chapter felt like a great end to volume 101, but even though this one doesn’t have quite as memorable a final page it’s hard to imagine the book being complete without Luffy and Kaido splitting the sky. It’s the perfect climax to the throughline of Luffy’s recovery and Momo’s ageing up that’s been developing at a rate of like one page per chapter for most of the volume. Plus the chapter title would make for a pretty great volume name, something the first 10 chapters of volume 101 didn’t have a whole lot of.

The Bellmere callback on the cover is super cute, and that’s all that needs to be said about it.

I’m in two minds about the sudden weather change used to setup the core moment of this chapter. We do get the in-universe explanation that dragons bring stormclouds with them, and we’ve seen Kaido’s dragon form ride in with dark clouds behind it when he was first revealed, but he didn’t make any clouds the first time he went dragon on the rooftop, even fighting against the sulong minks among the Scabbards. So why now? I might be inclined to call the weather change something contrived in order to get the haki clash moment, but the result is so cool that I’ve already completely forgiven it.

The dragon battle looks absolutely incredible. Kaido’s dragon form has always made for really memorable visuals, which almost makes me wish we had more time with both him and Momo onscreen. I particularly love the image of Momo spiralling aroud the blast breath. I’m sure some will complain about Momo’s bite hurting Kaido because it doesn’t hit their powerscaling headcanons, but I think it’s a worthwhile moment. It’s great that the thing that pushes Momo past his fear isn’t just getting big, but standing up in a meaningful way to his greatest fear, even if he did so with a whole lot of Luffy’s help. I don’t think the effect of the bite means he suddenly has advanced haki or anything like that – we saw from Kid’s tactics during the Supernovas’ rooftop bout that Kaido’s insides are vulnerable to being crushed even while his scales remain impenetrable, and any reasonable guess at the jaw strength of a predator that size says its bite would freaking hurt. Or just follow the Pokemon logic that dragon beats dragon.

And man, what great therapy it must be to make Kaido scream and live to tell of it. I’d be feeling invincible if I was in Momo’s position.

As much as I love the detail of the skull’s eye remaining broken where Momo broke in last chapter, I keep glancing at it and thinking it’s a speech bubble, wondering why it’s been left blank.

Carrot being reduced to yelling Catviper’s name and not getting to help fell Perospero was pretty disappointing. Whole Cake Island made her one of the most prominent non-Strawhat characters for more than seven volumes, literally years of real-world time. It’s fine for her to fall back into the fringes now that arc is over, but for her to be sidelined so hard in a fight she was present for and had such a genuine emotional stake in feels like a disservice to her former prominence. Well guess if nothing else it shows Oda doesn’t feel pressured at all by poll results in making plans for his characters.

Love the panel of Zoro and Sanji fighting back to back. Looking forward to getting back to that scene.

The chapter ends with a series of truly gorgeous spreads. I love that Luffy’s sky plitting moment is something that actually has an impact on the wider battle. So much of CoC prior to the coating revelation has just been a way for high level guys to dickmeasure before coming to blows.

Oh, and Orochi’s still kicking, surprising no one.

I’m not the first to say it, but I think it’s pretty likely the remaining enemies will continue to go down in pairs, save for Big Mom. Orochi and Fukurokuju would be a good set to take out together. I think Orochi’s done trying to fight, having set fire to Kaido’s house and lost seven out of his presumed eight lives already. He’s come right to the back door of the castle, so I think he’s just gonna creep out. My bet’s still on Denjiro tracking him down, having learned to predict him through all those years as a lapdog. Feels likely Hyori could get involved as well, but I don’t see Oda making her into a fighter this late in the game. That leaves Apoo and Hawkins and King and Queen, plus Big Mom. The remaining Numbers might show up to keep the fodder busy, but I’m not expecting much from them. I’m expecting these beats to play out fairly quickly over the next few chapters, leaving the second half of volume 102 to be completely Luffy vs Kaido.

Solid chapter overall with some absolutely vital moments and great visuals. I never really understood the hype surrounding Jack or the need to get another drawn out clash with him after he got all of Zou to himself, but I can understand feeling underwhelmed by Perospero’s showing at Onigashima. The dude had a lot of narrative baggage pinned to him from Whole Cake Island and Oda decided to use almost none of it and instead had him felled by a character who wasn’t even part of that arc. It’s not as much of a miss as Page One and Ulti’s sudden defeats, but it still feels like a story beat that needed more time in the oven. Regardless, I think the Onigashima battle’s gotten a lot more right than it has wrong since the Supernovas hit the roof and I’m really looking forward to seeing how it concludes.

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

We’re at the first possible end point for volume 101, and what a place it is to stop. We’re also back to normal cover pages, which once again raises the question of which chapter the WT100 spread will be made part of for the volume release, if it’s used at all in that version. All at once ahead of chapter 1024 is my guess, but it’s a bit of an enigma. I wasn’t expecting to see Momo’s flight this soon. I really thought Oda would try to wrap up the remaining fights before bringing Luffy back to the island, but I’m glad he went about it this way. Luffy and Momo’s interruption of the others’ battles were a joy to behold.

Yamato’s past turns out to legitimately be pretty rough. Twenty years sneaking around the castle like an intruder, unable to leave but unable to live normally. I can only imagine that kind of tension reinforced the need to be Oden as a way to survive. After all, it was a feat of inhuman endurance that brought Oden to Yamato’s attention in the first place.

The suggestion that ogres were an actual race is a fascinating development that I wasn’t strongly expecting. So Kaido isn’t an ancient giant then? Or were ancient giants ogres all along? Or are ogres to humans as ancient giants are to regular giants. And a pretty demonic kind of people to namedrop so soon after bringing in the angelic Lunarians. I have so many questions! I’m not particularly bothered by the oni/ogre translation debate for the moment. Wano is the Japan-themed arc, justifying a lot more loanwords than usual, but Kaido isn’t from Wano, so it tracks he wouldn’t describe himself by the local culture’s mythology. Of course, this may be contradicted as we learn more about the ogre race in the future, but for now it’s not a problem. The last panel of this sequence is great. Kaido really looks like the monster he’s been built up as. His hybrid form can stil often be underwhelming, but when it looks good, it looks good.

Giant dragon Momo tearing through the dome and the castle is an absolutely magical sequence and may go down as one of the highlights of the whole arc. I wonder if all these new holes in the castle are going to have an impact on the fights taking place there – like letting Kid and Killer communicate about Hawkins’ trap for them, or giving the pirates still in the castle a new way to flee the spreading fires.

Once again, I love seeing consistent environmental damage. The exterior shots show a hole above the eye socket where Momo entered, and the wide view of the roof really makes it look torn up by the many fights that have taken place there. That’s a well-worn boss arena if I ever saw one.

Luffy and Momo coming up screaming behind Yamato as he tries to stike a dramatic pose is peak One Piece. I’m glad we get to see an encore Snakeman performance before the inevitable new form or gear that’ll close out this battle. Seems that Luffy’s a lot more able to freely go in and out of Gear Four now as well. Back in Whole Cake Island, he seemed to go into the haki-exhausted state from transforming back after throwing one quick punch at Big Mom, and now he’s in and out of it between panels with no ill effects.

Kaido says at the end that the world doesn’t need two dragons, but he’s incredibly, painfully wrong on that point, because two dragons were exactly what this arc needed. The main panel of them confronting each other in the last spread is a treat, but the one below that shows both their bodies snaking around is brilliant as well. Just fantastic work from Oda. Take your break, man, you’ve earned it!

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

While not as mindblowingly great as the last few, Oda’s still going strong in this, the ninth chapter of volume 101, which is shaping up to be one of the series most memorable volumes. Interestingly, the official releases don’t see the WT100 spread as part of the actual chapter, leaving this one without any cover at all. I’m going to state again my suspicion that it’ll be presented all at once, across six pages, before chapter 1025, at least by the time we get to the volume release. No idea if Mangaplus and Viz will reflect that this week though. Worth noting if we do look at the WT100 page however is that the slight colour differences between the latest volume covers and the anime are reflected here too, showing they were more than a one-off error. Also cool to see Meltan using its canon colours in Kid’s arm, something also seemingly reflected in the colour manga panels used on the latest Vivre Cards. I would have guessed copyright woes would have forced them to go a generic metalic grew for plausible deniability, but that’s a whole-ass pokemon right there.

Usopp! Haki lies! Foreshadowing! We all know where it’s going, but it’s still fun to watch. And a good old fashioned skull joke from Brook!

I really enjoyed the battlefield atmosphere portrayed by the opening pages. The strawhats are all trying to get back in touch with each other over comms and share the information they’ve picked up, meanwhile the toppling of half a dozen officers hasn’t automatically wiped out the rank and file soldiers, who remain a going concern. The fires started by Black Maria and Orochi are spreading and becoming more and more dangerous, forcing friends and foes into motion. Law’s crew and Kawamatsu and the yakuza are covering key choke points to keep the remaining enemy troops from congregating and rallying. It’s war!

We see some more of Yamato and Kaido’s relationship this time around. Kaido’s mix of disgust and confusion under that first panel Yamato declares himself Oden is palpable on his face. The stance of “fine, be Oden, but Oden was my enemy” is not a bad justification for Kaido’s uncharacteristic acceptance of Yamato’s identity. But I also read a challenge in the last panel of Kaido as he leaves him in the cave – Kaido wants there to be another Oden to give him a fair fight and glorious death, and if his kid manages rise to the challenge and be that, all the better.

What does surprise me is Yamato taking on Oden’s identity before he read the logbook in full. So all of this came from the sheer show of will at the execution? The command to open Wano’s borders was picked up without knowing its true importance? I’m not totally certain that works for me, but hey, it’s Oda’s story.

Yams also once again mentions his dream of going out to sea, which goes alongside all his Strawhat-adjacent merch and marketing appearances lately to fuel crewmate speculation. Seems more and more likely he’ll leave Wano alongside Luffy. However the last non-crew character who got this kind of main character-level promotion was Law, who has stayed with us for a long time, but has not and will not officially join up, so I’m a long way from convinced he’s the eleventh person. Still could be, but just as likely to be a Law-type longterm companion.

The appearance of (a presumed) Ushimaru was interesting, but doesn’t quite hit home for me. Mostly because there’s not much new really in it. Like, we saw that he was a Zoro lookalike last week. We’ve known about Shimotsuki village and the dojo’s connection to the family for ages. Is this a way to make it clear to magazine-only readers who don’t read the SBS? Just an easter egg on our way through Yamato’s past? Some have suggested Ushimaru is meant to be Zoro’s father, but I don’t think there’s enough concrete info to say that for sure yet. The theory would have to justify the infant Zoro leaving Wano and making it all the way to Shimotsuki Village. Remember that this couldn’t be a planned journey, because Wano has such limited contact with the outside world, let along long distance communication. Shimotsuki Kozaburo would have been persona non grata after leaving thirty years before this scene Ushimaru would have no way of knowing where he settled or if his settlement survived. Hell, he probably wouldn’t even know what the East Blue is. These kinds of issues definitely could be handwaved with a few lines of exposition and Zoro’s mum (sent out of Wano for her safety after it became clear Kaido was there to stay) managing to reach the village her relative started by sheet plot coincidence, but I want to see that happen before I feel convinced Zoro’s anything other than a different branch of the family tree.

The final clash was excellently drawn. Yamato’s done well to hold his own so long, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he staggers after that last one. The end has to be close so that Luffy and Momo can have their cavalry moment.

And that’s it. Feels unreal to have so many back to back chapters. We’ve been on the same break schedule so long there’ll be a decent number of readers who’ve never had this much One Piece back to back. Good for them! With the end of the volume so close, I’m hoping to see at least one of the major fights wrap up in the next couple of chapters. Or maybe just a couple of the minor ones, given King and Queen are obviously going to be saved for last. There’s definitely room to tie off a bunch of the Scabbard loose ends in quick succession.

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

Man, this was a satisfying one to read. Oda couldn’t have done a better job if he’d asked me personally what he should cover. First, he draws a connection between King’s Fire and the idea of humans spontaneously combusting, which I wrote a whole thing about and edited an image for last week. Then, he names King’s race Lunarians and says they lived in a land of gods, tying in a whole long of longterm lore I’ve been very interested in for a while.

And hey, here’s something I said last week:

“It’s interesting to see that Ashura Doji’s body has snow falling over it. I was pretty sure he fell inside the dome. Maybe the fake Oden’s explosion blew a hole in the wall we didn’t get to see at the time.”

I wish I’d spent more time on this, because I knew Jack and Inu were fighting near where he fell, and I’ve been saying for months that the move to the clear skies over the capital would lead to a Sulong revival, so I should’ve figured out exactly what was coming this week! It feels so obvious in hindsight! And yeah, the Sulong encore, foreshadowed by the moon in the background of the cutaways to the capital, has come to pass as predicted. Finally, Momo’s transformation takes place, fulfilling a whole lot of foreshadowing and tying up thematic threads as predicted.

Basically we’ve got a whole lot cool lore being discussed and some clever, mostly environment-driven foreshadowing being fulfilled, the kind of stuff that feels good to see because it just clicks into place in hindsight. I love it.

Going on to the rest of the chapter, Kawamatsu and Izo being regulated to fodder cleanup for the final stage of the battle is a little disappointing. I know we don’t have time for any more major fights, but I liked those guys. They deserve spotlight moments too! Marco and Izo’s interaction was nice though.

It’s great to see the Zoro/Sanji/King/Queen fight be an actual 2v2 with dialogue going back and forth and attacks not always going to the same opponent, forcing the two Strawhats to cover each other. You love to see it, especially since Robin and Brook missed their shot at a duo fight just a few chapters ago. Queen has a whole lot of nerve asking if a human does what Sanji does while his body is doing what it’s doing. Zoro’s comment about Sanji’s eyebrows is A+ banter. I wonder what else King’s sword is hiding. It’s status as a killer machine can’t possible be limited just to the notches appearing and disappearing. Maybe his suit will also show off some sneaky enhancements in-line with his new status as a not-swordsman.

I could be wrong on this point, and please correct me if I am, but is this is the first time ever, in 24 years, that we’ve seen Zoro specifically use his mouth sword in a fight?

We now have a direct parallel being drawn between Zoro, the last Shimotsuki daimyo and Ryuma. This is curious because the SBS already confirmed Koshiro and Kuina to be direct descendants of the Shimotsuki line. Does that make Zoro a cousin to them or something, if he’s really meant to be an actual Shimostuski too?

Jack’s hybrid form is just the right level of ridiculous (and good to see Oda going for more unique designs than just a buff guy with animal sleeves and cowling) and Fukurokuju using his earlobes to fly is perfect. What a character!

I like Neko calling Perospero Lickspittle as an insult. Wouldn’t shock me if Stephen brought that one back from an initial drawing board of possible English adaptations of Perospero’s name.

And finally, we have Momo looking awesome. Not much to say about how right this is as an ending for his arc, because I said it already both when this development was pitched and in the thread with the poll. That reveal panel is fantastically dramatic. Luffy looks every bit a king with his coat billowing and that enormous beast lowering its head for him to get on. The callback to Momo’s introduction, nine years ago now, really sells how far we’ve come.

The first part of the WT100 poster is also out and looking great, but as expected, it’s not a colour spread for this chapter. But I think I read that we are getting real colour pages next week. Will part two of the poster be there on top of a normal spread? Or will the colour spread be the middle part of the poster, and the volume will collect the full thing together ahead of chapter 1024 in the same way the chapter 1000 colour spread was released across two issues of Jump but published together in volume 99. Either way, man, I’m happy this week, and I expect to be happy next week as well.

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

This week we finally get the overhead view of the Onigashima interior people have been asking for literally since the battle started. But what we’re shown here actually raises a few new questions.

At a glance, I wasn’t sure how to reconcile the view here with the mini maps shown during scene transitions previously.

But after a bit of looking and reviewing, I think I was actually reading the old maps a little wrong this whole time. There’s still issues with the old map, but I think with this we’ve got it figured out.

The areas in grey below, I initially assumed to be large interior zones of what is labelled “Right Brain Tower” in the narration, but they’re really just the walls of the dome. Solid rock, by the look of them. The only part that matters are the lines through each side, highlighted in red, which I now understand to be the long passages leading to the exterior that Franky fought Sasaki in and Big Mom chased Nami, Carrot and Shinobu down. They appear to have side rooms, but for the most part the Left and Right Brain structures are just straight lines.

But it still doesn’t totally make sense. To match up with what’s been shown in the actual manga, the minimap would need to be more oval-shaped. I played around with the warp tool in Photoshop and think I’ve tweaked it into something more accurate to the canon layout of the space, with a few main landmarks shown for complete clarity.

However, I made a post back in November (holy shit, we’ve been doing this for a while) looking at how consistently Oda tracked battle damage and character locations across the battlefield and it’s still spot on here. This map shows the tower Zoro cut down, the place Yamato’s handcuffs exploded and the path of Big Mom’s attack on the Performance Floor right where they should be. It’s also cool being able to spot the Pleasure Hall, the back entrance to the dome and the trench blasted by Kaido and Big Mom’s combined attack on the roof on the overhead shot of the island flying on the next page.

Getting to the actual content of the chapter, Raizo’s fight was a fun interlude in the early pages. Fukurokujo fighting with his earlobes and Raizo giving away his real self by talking are classic Oda gags. I can’t see it being a particularly long fight, however. The next time we cut back to here should be the last. It’s interesting too see that Ashura Doji’s body has snow falling over it. I was pretty sure he fell inside the dome. Maybe the fake Oden’s explosion blew a hole in the wall we didn’t get to see at the time.

Killer and Hawkins are both fairly periphery characters in the grand scheme of things. Neither of them are all that emotionally resonant (though Killer’s surprised me a few times this arc) and neither has the battlefield presence for it to be a point of tension if he’s defeated or not. That’s why it’s such a clever move on Oda’s part to have Hawkins connect himself to Kid. The stakes of the fight and its potential to force the characters into tough choices have just been raised tenfold.

King and Queen’s villain spread looks incredible. I feel like I’ve been saying a lot that I’m looking forward to the colour manga version of different scenes, but it just keeps being true. Sanji taking damage going up against both feels like a way to level his playing field with Zoro, who got the chance to face Kaido. I don’t think it has quite the same prestige, but it works for what it is.

Perospero is back outside, where he left Carrot and Wanda. I still think they’re going to get back and contribute to his defeat, especially with the island having already moved back into seemingly clearer skies.

So King’s special racial trait isn’t to do with the wings or anything he might be hiding under his gimpsuit, it’s making and controlling fire? What a novel and unique ability to naturally have access to without any help from devil fruits or technology…

I was tempted to include Doflamingo’s Overheat as well, but despite the name and being drawn with an inexplicable warm orange glow, the ability has never been been shown generating actual flames. I also omitted Zoro for the moment, given that he’s only shown the ability to cut fire, not to make it.

So either King’s race has a pretty underwhelming perk, or they genetically integrated into the wider population over time, losing the wings but distributing enough fire-making genetics that a minor version of the ability shows up regularly. Or it could be similar to how water manipulation would likely be seen as a Fishman/Merfolk benefit, but it can actually be learned by anyone willing to put the time in. (once again, I’m willing to bet the Minks’ electro could be taught the same the way)

But there’ll definitely be more about that in the future! Because we it seems that this fire race once lived on the Redline (unless the leading name of this Red Wall is a red herring), which presumably makes them and their history fairly important. The fact that they have wings is also very interesting. He’s doesn’t seem to be Skypiean, Birkan or Shandian, the three important races depicted in carvings on the moon, but this fourth winged race that he is must be related to them somehow, right? King’s race also differs from the other winged peoples of the world in that his wings are big enough to fly on. Are they a racial feature that’s just somehow less remarkable than the fire? Is he perhaps the last of an ancestor race to the clipped-wing modern Skypiea/Birkan/Shanians, the same way the Ancient Giant race that produced Oars, his descendants and (kinda) the Numbers is larger and more monstrous than modern giants?

I’m surprised by how clean Zoro looks with the bandages off. I guess we can only really see his back, but there’s no dried blood, no dirt, no wounds or anything. I’d kinda figured the Minks’ cureall would just re-energise him and let him fight despite the injuries, not vanish them entirely. Basically, he looks like nothing happened, when I wanted him to look like Nothing Happened.

I hope Oda’s willing to play with the 2v2 setup of this fight a little. Are King and Queen willing to give each other assists while Zoro and Sanji determinedly focus on their designated opponent? Or will we get another “ten seconds” scene where they team up and take the bigwigs down one at a time? Even just the chance for banter if they’re fighting side by side is appreciated.

Here’s to another excellent chapter, and with as few as three left in the volume things can only keep ramping up.

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

What a fantastic chapter. It felt a lot like an Enies Lobby fight, with its clever tricks and new powers that don’t fully make sense coming out of nowhere, but you excuse it because they’re just so freaking cool. Brook gets sold a little short, but Robin is in the running to be the MVP of Onigashima. It was all drawn beautifully as well, and is going to be one of the sequences I’m looking forward to the most when the colour volume starts getting this far. Especially the Mari-arson panel (great work on the names, Stephen); the way they colour fire has always been really appealing to me.

I love the versatility Robin’s been showing with her fruit. From flexible noodle arms for the Sea Serpent Snap Dragon move to whatever the heck Demonio Fluer is, she’s really pushing it to its limits and showing why it has a reputation as one of the most broken fruits. Similarly, Black Maria plays it real smart and shows why Robin can’t just effortlessly win every fight. She takes advantage of the giant limbs’ vulnerability, uses a large weapon and a poison ability to discourage spawning limbs close to or on her, then lights the room on fire to limit the other places arms and legs might come from. It’s a great play/counterplay exchange that gives both combatants a strong showing. And the finisher! Just like Jinbe’s fight, this one wraps up in an unexpectedly brutal looking way. We’re in the big leagues now, and the crew is not toying with their opponents.

The only questionable visual in the chapter is giant Robin’s chest in the opening pages. The line rendering is a bizarre choice, and looks a lot weirder than just, say, leaving her boobs smooth and nippleless. Also, why is this an issue at all? We’ve seen already that Robin’s full body duplicates can come out fully clothed. And she’s still got the ribbon in her hair, even in the giant version! So you can’t tell me it would be impossible to make it clothed at that size. And if that was going to be the excuse for making her naked, just remove the ribbon too and let her hair free for a classic, natural-looking Godiva censor! Which happens anyway on the demon form!

The whole thing strikes me as Oda just wanting to draw tits and not thinking things through further than that.

I loved the mixing and matching of martial arts and skills in the flashback. It’s definitely something I want to see more of, given how many different non-devil fruit styles we’ve seen so far. It’s also nice to actually see a human using Fishman martial arts with the shockwave effects and everything. We knew Koala could use the style, but we’d never seen her do any of the more waterbender-y things actual Fishmen did with it. I’m happy to consider it confirmed that water manipulation isn’t species-specific, it’s something you can train and learn, just like the flame swordsmanship Zoro picked up. Elemental powers are just something humans seem to have in One Piece.

Makes you wonder if the Minks’ electro is also something that could be figured out by anyone with the right training.

The shadows on the Demonio form are inevitably going to trigger a million ongoing debates about armament haki, but I don’t think that’s what we’re being shown. Haki has more of a metallic, reflective smoothness its its rendering, with bright spots where it’s catching the light. The rough, rendered edges and lack of reflections here just don’t match. It’ll be interesting to see how the anime and colour manga choose to colour it, with that in mind.

I was going to screencap a couple of panels to compare how haki is drawn, but someone on reddit made this edit, showing the point better than I could have hoped to:

I wish we could have seen more from Brook in this conflict, but hey, he was the clear MVP of Whole Cake Island and his final attack here is a spectacularly drawn panel, so I won’t complain too much.

It’s interesting looking back at Robin’s scenes post timeskip with the assumption she was perhaps capable of this all along. Oda probably could have let her put up more of a fight against Monet. Even without armament, the Fishman Karate moisture tricks should have done something to a snow logia. Trebol, on the other hand, is extremely lucky to have only attacked her when she was playing decoy, and that Sugar managed to get Robin when she did. I feel like it’s in character that she let Kyros and Diamante have their fight, even though it seems like she would have been more than a match if she’d had to step in. The Stardust move would have been a tough hit if it caught her by surprise with her big limbs out though.

And we have the final reveal – Momonosuke might be turned into an adult. Some people guessed it as early as the first reveal of Shinobu’s power. Some people got it earlier than that. I remember reading a theory years and years ago that Bonney would join the crew alongside Momo and be used to age him up and down when he needed to fight. I wonder if that person is still around to know how close they were on that point. Anyway, I can’t understand the immediate negative reaction a weird number of people had to this development when the spoilers came out, assuming it would mean he fights Kaido and steals the win from Luffy, then getting mad about that assumption. Are we reading the same series? As if this isn’t the moment it all clicks into place for issue of the Onigashima colony drop and how to prevent it.

It also makes a whole lot of thematic sense on different levels. The loss of innocence Momo suffered when Kaido attacked is made manifest. The need for him to grow up and be a leader is taken literally. The 20 years of suffering for the locals that the time-jumping squad didn’t have to endure are made up for all at once. The parellels and contrasts to Oden, who both acted like an adult when he was a child and joyfully shirked his responsibilities like a big kid when he was an adult.

I don’t see Momo fighting Kaido head on. Age is not a substitute for experience, but it might be enough to turn a piddly little dragon into a fearsome full-size one. At best, he gets a token clash to be part of the Momotaro scene, then goes off to save the island. Which makes complete sense and should be a fitting conclusion to the battle.

Horrible time to have a week off to wait through, but what a great chapter to be left on. I’m really excited for the direction the arc is headed. Assuming the remaining fights will wrap up in order of importance and emotional weight, I can see either Drake and Apoo or Killer and Hawkins wrapping up in the next chapter, then onward to the heavy hitting Scabbard, Sanji and Zoro, and Kid and Law scenes.