Captain M Entertainment

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.

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

It took a while to get to the crew fights for this arc, and a lot of people were worried after Nami’s clash with Ulti underperformed, but I think it’s safe to say after these past three chapters that it was overall worth the wait. Jinbe, Franky and now Robin’s rights have been delightful, each one making the most of a small amount of screentime, showing off all kinds of interesting and creative powers.

I don’t have much to say on the topic of Yamato’s fruit. I’m not familiar enough with the different mythologies involved to theorise or speculate better than people who’ve already talked about it. It really speaks to his strength to go head to head with Kaido like this for so long. I’ll be interested to see the colours and animation on the breath attack when the anime gets that far, to see how they distinguish it from the fire moves we’ve seen before. Hell, will the wreath of fire on his shoulders also be a different colour?

The hard cut to the illusion move is a strange one. It never gets explained how Black Maria managed this – is it her fruit or something inherent to her, like the illusions sometimes seen alongside Brook’s music? How did she know to make figures from Robin’s past, or is the illusion more hallucinatory in nature, and Robin filled in the gaps herself? It’s also the second time a fake revival has been used in this battle, but at least this one wasn’t an end-of-chapter cliffhanger. Foreshadowing for visions of the dead at the end of the festival in the Capital, perhaps?

Oh well, I still enjoyed Robin’s to-the-point handling of it and the bonding moment with Brook it created.

Tenjo Kudari finally becoming a named character means my Where’s Wally guide is out of date already. Thanks a lot, Oda.

I’m looking forward to the seedy SBS question that asks where Black Maria found the time to cover her chest in the middle of a fight. Snapping a bra on would be one thing, but wrapping it up like that had to have taken some time. Maybe she used her webs.

The choreography of this fight is really fun, with both Robin and Black Maria ending up hanging from the roof with the floor burning. It gives the battle a unique verticality, especially with one of them upside down. And what’s with Robin’s arm in the panel where she first throws out the spider net? It looks like it splits into a bunch of smaller arms instead of having the extra limbs spawn on top of existing skin. Could this be a new application of her power?

Breaking Brook off on his own at this late stage is an interesting choice, especially with no noteworthy opponent for him to take instead. I did like him using his ability to leave his body offensively. Hope the leftover underlings are enough for him to show more new skills, because he definitely deserves that chance.

Robin’s defence of Sanji was a nice show of Strawhat comradery, but that still doesn’t mean I’m happy with Sanji’s performance in that scene or the overall direction of his character. People are making a big deal over the possible translations of the wings line but I can’t see any way they could have captured every nuance of the Japanese version without being extremely awkward. Plus, there’s a much, much funnier translation debate happening in with My Hero Academia this week that’s a lot more fun to focus on.

The giant Robin in the final page of the scene is amazingly cool though, and I can’t wait to see what she does with it in the next chapter.

Absolutely zero shocks in Luffy’s scenes as Momo reveals the obvious way he and Shinobu survived their fall and Luffy demands flight, as has been expected for a long time. A necessary step to have on screen, but it can’t help feeling very obvious. Caribou’s presence is an odd one in the final pages. I have no idea what relevance he could possibly have to what comes next.

The crew battle portion of the arc is developing really well after a slightly rough start. I assume we’re getting the end of Robin and Brook’s battles next week, leaving about half the volume for the rest of the fights. I still think there’s good odds of Oda trying to wrap up at the very least everything except King and Queen’s fights in volume 101 and use most volume 102 to rush toward the conclusion of the battle. It’s rough knowing there’s another break so close after the next chapter but the story feels like it’s got enough momentum at this point that it won’t affect the reading experience too much. Sometimes these periods with break after break have a bad way of lining themselves up in the already long-feeling musical chairs and running around sections of their arcs and dragging them down hard.

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

We’re about halfway through volume 101 now and Oda definitely seems to be using this book to wrap up the crew battles and leave only the final round against Kaido for 102. The end is close. And man, people complain about fights being so much offscreen and only getting one chapter, but there were a lot of back and forth action beats in this one chapter alone. I don’t feel shortchanged on Franky and Sasaki at all.

The colour spread this week is overshadowed by the absolutely magical Where’s Wally crossover (hey has anyone got the full size digital rip of that yet?), but that doesn’t mean it’s got nothing to offer. The scenario recalls the final part of the escape from Impel Down, but in a much more fun and lighthearted way. I really like Jinbe’s kimono and I adore Franky’s hair. Definitely a win for Oda.

Apparently the scan version used Triceracopter instead of Heliceratops for the title, and to be honest I don’t know which one I prefer. They both sound hilarious.

I think I said in the last discussion thread that I wanted the claw in Queen’s hair to be used in battle, and Oda has opened this chapter with exactly what I asked for. I’ve gone off Sanji as a character in recent years, but I’m looking forward to getting back to this fight.

Luffy’s alive again down on the sea, ready to track down Momo and make his way back up. The narration namedrops the submarine being the Polar Tang. I know that came up in an SBS, but is this the first time it’s been mentioned in an actual chapter?

There’s not much to say about Sasaki’s design and powers that isn’t just a babbled stream of praise for Oda’s creativity and humour. This is possibly the most fun use of a Zoan type since Kaku. The spinning frill absolutely slayed me, and the backwards accelleration gag is gold. It really is just a fun piece of work. Show me the paleontologist who could prove this isn’t what dinosaurs actually did. Where’s the fossil record? I liked how hard the General Franky was pushed during the fight. It can take serious damage that disables limbs and weapons in a way Oda isn’t often willing to do in the human fights. Franky being forced to eject and fight on his own at the end was the right move, making it clear it’s Franky very much has his own power, he’s not just relying o the robot to fight for him. I wonder if it’ll get an upgrade or a redesign when he repairs it?

Kaido’s hybrid form is looking good here. The hunched forward pose with the fail whipping around behind him shows it off a lot better than its reveal. I’m not sure what to say about Yamato’s new form because I’m not sure what it’s meant to represent. Feels like it could be any number mythical things it could be just from what I know, and there’s plenty I don’t. It’s definitely cool looking, but without knowing what it’s meant to be, how do you judge whether it achieved that? Hopefully we’re not left hanging too long. It’s not like Oda to leave contentious details about Yamato up for debate for long periods of time, right? Right…?

So that’s chapter 1019. None of the big plot hints of the past two, but it was classic One Piece fun the whole time. It’s hard to say where we’re going after this. Oda might want to spread the Strawhat climaxes out by doing any number of the other fights waiting to conclude (and even start). Let’s look at what we’ve got to go…

Brook and Robin vs Black Maria
Sanji vs Queen
Drake vs Apoo
Killer vs Hawkins
Dog vs Jack
Cat vs Perospero
Raizo vs Fukurokuju
Marco vs King
Law and Kid vs Big Mom

Plus a moment for Zoro now that he’s healed and the chopping of Orochi’s last head (which I assume Denjiro will take). And probably some kind of conclusion for Kaido and Yamato’s fight.

That’s 14 conflicts to wrap up (assuming Usopp isn’t going to get a moment to himself too) but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll all get their own full chapter. I could see things like the presumed defeats of Marco and Yamato being used as a stinger in someone else’s chapter, and Oda could definitely double up some of the Scabbard fights in half a chapter each as well. There’s definite potential to wrap up everything except Sanji, Zoro and the clash against Big Mom (and of course the final Kaido clash) in the five chapters left of this volume. But we’ll see where Oda takes it.

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

This was another really impressive chapter that did a lot to move the story forward. The end of the battle is getting closer. Which fight will be the next one to conclude?

The cover
I don’t usually comment on the regular cover pages, but this one is too cute not to. The sibling dynamic! The plushes representing the rest of the crew! It really is a joy to look at.

The Gifter rampage
I’m surprised we’re still spending so much time on Nami, Usopp and Tama with the Gifters turned. It makes sense that the Beasts Pirates would go for Tama, hoping her power will be disabled if she falls, but I didn’t expect it to be so much onscreen. But the scene earns its keep with two things near the end. There’s the confirmation of Zeus as a sidekick and friend to Nami and perhaps more interestingly, we’ve got Usopp’s comment on her new power. Does he feel like he’s falling behind again? I’ve been saying since Page One got downed than Usopp needs something else to do this arc. What’s Oda going to throw at the group so he can show off some new tricks?

Good to see Daifugo going more stuff too. I always really liked his design.

Cipher Pol
Battle updates are always welcome, and this one shows how close to the end we’re getting. It’s cool that so many of the mook pirates are choosing to follow the Gifters in turning on Kaido. We’ve established already that the lower ranks of the crew aren’t treated well, and we know that the structure is a ruthless meritocracy with loyalty only to those more powerful than yourself. And at around 30,000 men, there’s no chance of the executives having one on one time with the underlings. It tracks perfectly that so many underlings would follow their Headliner squad leader over the larger crew, and that they would go with the tide of battle when it turned.

The fish catches the cat
Jinbe’s first big onscreen solo fight doesn’t disappoint. It’s a shame he didn’t get a chance to do this kind of showing off at Whole Cake Island, given how late he’s joined the crew, but at least we’ve got it now. Jinbe’s got a bulky frame and moves that rely on throws and big, slow punches made with wide, low stances. Though we see that he can move fast when he needs to, he’s ultimately a tank built to absorb hits and respond in kind. He’s also got a brutal kind of efficiency to him, breaking hands and stomping on tails, that’s refreshing to see. I went into this fight thinking he’s going to be too lead-footed to give me the kind of dynamic, zippy fights I enjoy most, but the no-sell to reply structure had good tension and payoff, and the ruthless moves near the end were extremely satisfying, so mark me down as looking forward to future Jinbe fights.

It’s also cool seeing a Strawhat do the full-body haki thing. I don’t know if I would have expected it to be Jinbe who did it, but good on him being the one.

Finally, the big volley of finger pistols near the end is a great counterpoint to one of the big misconceptions that comes up around haki: that it’s a straight-up power dickmeasure, and the one with weaker haki is completely overwhelmed by the one with stronger haki. See how it plays out here: Jinbe defends with full-body armament while Who’s Who attacks with his own armament. These atacks do real harm to Jinbe, visibly and obviously drawing blood, but eventually Who’s Who’s fingers are broken by Jinbe’s hardness. Neither one’s haki beat out or nullified the others. Jinbe’s haki was at the same time not strong enough to completey stop Who’s Who’s attack and at the same time strong enough to wear down Who’s Who’s armoured fingers. Despite Jinbe coming out as the much stronger party, the haki clash was not winner takes all.

Hopefully people remember that for future fights and debates about strength.

Who’s Who’s heated moment
It’s not like Oda’s shied away from themes of prejudice in this series, but I was not expecting Who’s Who to go mask-off (so to speak) at Jinbe all of a sudden. What’s interesting is that Jinbe, by all accounts one of the world’s most prominent fishman figures, responds like he doesn’t hear this kind of thing all that much anymore. He’s old enough to have heard it and look weary about it, but he talks like society is a bit past casual racism in this day and age. What can we infer from that?

Well maybe Who’s Who is just a bit of a dickhead as an individual. Maybe after spending the better part of a decade in prison, he hasn’t really been able to keep up with social progress. Perhaps it speaks to the kind of culture maintained in the offices of Cipher Pol and other government operatives.

The last option would be consistent with how Oda has commented on social issues in the past. Fishman Island attacks issues of prejudice from a structural angle, pointing out how attitudes towards different people are passed down between generations. 200 years ago, the lawmakers of the World Goverment considered fishmen and merfolk no different from ocean fauna. The law has edged forward, but the Celestial Dragons are insulated from society to the point they don’t even want to breathe the same air as commonfolk; what kind of attitudes have been festering in the upper ranks of the government without any real contact with the world to counter them?

And while the laws have progressed over the years, the status quo has changed little. The fishman are no longer openly discriminated against, but they still lack the right to emigrate from the sea floor, a location every pirate entering the New World is funneled through, and which is right below a slavery hotspot, possibly the worst place for them to live. Consider how in the real world many minority groups are less likely to have slurs thrown at them in the street than their parents and grandparents’ generations, but remain trapped by a lack of class mobility, leaving them in the same poor, opportunity-less socioeconomic area as their forebears. All the while, inherited wealth and better opportunities off the starting block keep oligarch class ahead of everyone else in the race. The structural elements outlive the overt bigotry. No wonder it’s a sensitive topic for Jinbe.

And then there’s the big reveal, the Sun God Nika. A messianic figure for slaves that the World Government is apparently trying to keep the stories of from spreading. A man who would bring freedom and laughter to the oppressed peoples of the world. The implications to the developing lore of Joyboy and the Dawn are immediate and obvious. It also gets me thinking about the battle of God Valley, in which Roger allegedly defended the Celestial Dragons’ slaves from Rocks. Even if it was before Laugh Tale, did Roger know about Nika the same way he knows about Joyboy? Then what’s his motive, and what is that of Rocks? Different interpretations of the Nika story, or was Rocks perhaps planning to slaughter the slaves to remove the conditions for Nika’s appearance?

Whatever the case, this was another extremely satisfying chapter. With the amount of breaks we’re due the next few weeks, hopefully all of the next lot give us this much to think about. I’d tip the Black Maria fight to be the next one put in-focus and wrapped up, given that it’s a floor below Jinbe and we’ve already seen the effects of the battle being felt on the lower floor. It’d be an easy transition, if Oda chooses to take it. And there seems to finally be the WT100 colour spread to look forward to! I was one chapter short in my guess for it last week.

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

I thought this was a really eventful chapter, right when 1016 got me thinking the pace would slow again. The climax of this battle is close, and Oda seems to be stepping on the gas with battle updates and hybrid reveals.

Tama’s order
Seeing Tama pass out at the start of the chapter had me worried, but I think it was necessary to justify the cutaway of the Gifters making the one on one fights hard for the good guys. I do kinda wish that information had been spread out a little better over previous chapters instead of phoned in at the last minute, but it still barely manages to emphasise the Gifter flip as a necessary step toward the ultimate victory. Interestingly, all the Gifters we see go right to fodder control rather than lashing out at the officers or influencing the one on ones in the other direction. Is it because the numbers game still strongly favours the Beasts Pirates, or did they pick up a bit of respect for a fair fight now that they’re on our side?

Oh, and we see Shinobu and Momo during this sequence. Where’d they land? Looks like a wooden floor or deck of some kind in the background.

On the Performance Floor
Queen’s hybrid form is peak Oda design. There’s so much going on with it in the best possible way. The grabby hand coming out of the ponytail is an inspired decision, and it had better actually be used in the fight.

Oda’s pushing the connection between Queen and Judge again, but I’m not sure what he means to actually do with it. Presumably MADS is the same unit Judge was in with Vegapunk, which should have big reveal potential, but I don’t see Vegapunk being a Wano thing. I expect to be teased and nothing more.

Mini-Chopper is not the side effect I was hoping for, but I’m sure it’ll make for a few really profitable plushies. Zoro is very in character right now, acting like he needs the drug even though the enemies around him are being pretty comfortably handled. We all know he’ll have to fight King eventually, but Zoro wants to be contributing to the battle as much as possible, even if its just helping with the fodder. The setup does feel a little like it’s ham-fistedly trying to set up a new “nothing happened” moment, but I’m reserving judgement on the repetition until I see how Oda chooses to play the new version.

Jinbe and Who’s Who
I’m really happy we’re spending some time showing Jinbe’s battle. He’s got some catching up to do in terms of screentime, relative to the rest of the crew. The Fishman Karate shockwaves being able to deflect flying slash type attacks is a cool, logical interaction. These are things we like to know.

I would have bet on the Impel Down escapee angle (and I was kinda right; I don’t think Jinbe was a Warlord until after Luffy ate the fruit, so the prison has to be where they saw each other), but I really like Who’s Who being a former Cipher Pol agent. Bringing the Six Powers back on a major opponent is fun continuity and should make for good action in the rest of this fight. The original Cipher Pol fights were some of the series’ best action to date, to my mind, so more of this is always welcome. I liked seeing the actual manga draw the connection between the Six Powers and Haki. Many of us had speculated it for a while, and the Vivre Cards for the CP9 members all but made it clear, but this feels like the final nail in the coffin for the naysayers.

Who’s Who has a pretty fun hybrid look as well, but he’s definitely overshadowed by the ridiculousness of Queen.

Going against the grain, I think the Gun Gun reveal is exciting and I hope we get some more follow-up on it. I don’t think it’s actually going to be anything world-shaking, but given how mysterious Shanks is, any info we get about what he is and has been up to is good info.

The events of the Reverie raised some questions about Shanks’s alligences, but from this we can be fairly sure that if he is working with the government in any way, it’s a more recent development. We can say with some confidence that he wasn’t working with the Five Elders back when he inspired Luffy and gave him the hat, given that it was apparently taken from an “enemy ship.” Which may or may not soothe your “Shanks groomed luffy to be the chosen one” conspiracy theories. Does Who’s Who’s treatment by the government imply a higher importance to the fruit? Well a squad was also sent to arrest CP9 after their big failure at Enies Lobby, so it’s reasonable to think that’s just what happens when you fail the government. You can’t just let black ops guys like that walk with all the secrets they know, so if you get kicked out of Cipher Pol you get arrested. I’m still a big fan of the theory that the Gum Gum and Dark Dark Fruits are easily mistaken for each other and both Cipher Pol and Shanks went after the wrong fruit after hearing a report of it being in East Blue.

But we’ll see. There’s a lot of directions Oda could take something like this and we’re not operating on a ton of info. I’ve got a lot of thoughts about the negative ways some people have reacted to this development despite how little we know about it, but I think I’ll make them a separate post for that to keep this one from getting too overwhelmingly long.

Apart from a slightly soft 1016, the last few chapters have been really, really strong. Oda’s doing really well, and I hope he can keep this kind of pace up to the end of the battle. Oh, and looking ahead, if the break schedule goes the way it usually does and I haven’t forgotten any Japanese public holidays, we could be getting chapter 2020 exactly on the series’ 24th anniversary. Sounds like a perfect place for that long-awaited WT100 colour spread!

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

This chapter steps on the brakes a little compared to the last two. It figures we couldn’t keep up that kind of pacing forever, but it still obviously feels like a step back. On the other hand, the official end of a main one on one fight is a big signal that the end is close for Wano, and there’ll probably be more big leaps forward like it in the coming weeks.

Also hey, I made a few good guesses last week.

I was off the mark on Nami not being able to summon Zeus in cloud form, and I don’t think anyone expected the shapeshifting aspect, but otherwise, the talk of being reborn and not being able to leave voluntarily sure sound like a new Homie’s been made out of the tact to me.

I also said “why [isn’t Tama] doing what Momo does and grabbing a Mary?”

Which turns out to be exactly what she does. Nice!

I’ve also been on team Ulti gets back up for weeks now, but that one isn’t worth patting myself on the back over.
The opening scene with Toko and Hitetsu is very sweet, but it also has two interesting details. The first is the clear skies over the capital, showing the full moon. Could we be in for a Sulong second wind in the final stages of Onigashima’s journey? Second is the bonfire built big enough to be visible from the heavans. I will be shocked if there isn’t a big moment where someone spots its light from the flying island a few chapters from now. Or if we don’t have Luffy and Momo using it as a beacon to get to the capitol on their return flight or something like that.

CP0’s battle updates are always welcome. Remember that there are only around 500 Gifters, so Tama’s broadcast isn’t going to flip a massive number of combatants. I think it’s more likely we’re going to see exactly how many normal soldiers a Gifter can be worth instead.

I’m surprised Bao Huang is so sure Momo and Shinobu are dead. Maybe I need to reread the fine details of what Shinobu was up to for 20 years, but she’s a known quantity to the Beasts Pirates, right? They know she can do this, don’t they?

I had no fear for either of them when they fell last week because aside from the plot armour angle, jumping off the island was a really logical and safe thing for Shinobu to do with her skillset.

I like the attention to detail in Ulti’s cloak consistently having a big visible hole where Big Mom’s attack went out the back. A lesser author might have forgotten to do more than just burning her top and skirt to show a tasteful amount of midriff and thigh, but Oda’s not just a perv.

I also enjoy Zues amping up Nami’s physical capabilities a level. Like, you couldn’t even say the extending trick shown off on Zou has been underutilised because that would imply it’s been utilised at all. Zeus could save it from being written off as wasted potential if Oda keeps using him like this. He legitimately brings a lot to the table as a powerup, including being a whole other character to interact with, and I’m glad she’d got him.

His rejection of the new name is a great gag, and I like him helping Nami with the targeting. It makes sense that electricity would arc to its target, right?

And that’s about where my praise for Nami VS Ulti ends. It’s definitely on the weaker end of both Nami and the series’ major clashes. I don’t even know if so much of the early stage being offscreen is the issue, like so many others have said. A few more pages of Nami getting physically overwhelmed before she made her big Luffy declaration two dozen chapters ago wouldn’t have changed the issues the later stage of the fight has.

Ulti could almost be seen as one of those Resident Evil enemies that shrugs off you attacks and pursues you while you try to solve puzzles and do other stuff, and at the end of the game you finally get access to a souped up rail gun or rocket launcher and get your revenge for the trouble they gave you. Nami is mostly focused on avoiding Ulti and solving the Gifter issue for the whole fight and is rewarded with the extra firepower she needs at the end. But unfortunately, what makes for a satisfying turnaround in a game doesn’t land the same way in a manga.

This chapter alone, the scene with the finishing blow, works fine in isolation. But trying to take all the Nami/Ulti scenes up to this point and visualise them as a full sequence, it just doesn’t work. The dialogue implies that the main cause of Ulti’s defeat was the two big blasts from Big Mom and Nami, rather than the culmination of all the hits she’s taken so far (and there’ve been a lot of them). There’s very little sense of give and take in the fight, no push and pull, no calls and responses in the choreography. None of that good stuff that makes a compelling fight. But because Nami was always running and staying one step ahead instead of being backed into a corner, there isn’t enough of a desperate atmosphere to make an turnabout from the underdog work either.

Whatever the reason, it just feels like there’s something missing from this fight, necessary though it was for it to happen. And Ulti’s still a highlight of Kaido’s crew, despite the slightly anticlimactic end.

I’m hoping for a better showing from the rest of the crew’s fights. Most of the Strawhats are standing their ground instead of running from their opponents anyway, so there’s more to build a fight out of with those anyway.
Does Bao Huang confirm that Page One is down for good as well? I guess no round two for Usopp, which is a shame. Page One staying down probably says something about something. Maybe its just his lower endurance or taking more hits from Usopp and Nami compared to Ulti. Maybe it’s the power of Big Mom’s CoC coating against an opponent who can’t respond in kind.

But there has to be something more for Usopp. Catching Bao Huang isn’t big enough to be his scene for the arc, and it isn’t presented like the climax of his story here.

It feels odd not to show Tama actually giving her order and the immediate results of it, especially with the chapter named after her. Is it not there because the chapter’s only 15 pages, or is the chapter 15 pages because Oda couldn’t fit what he wanted to do in just two more?

I like that we get a bit more of Kaido’s dragon form. It always makes for such good looking panels. We also have the clearest signpost yet that Yamato is leaving Wano with the crew. I don’t know if I’m totally on board with him in the main cast yet, but I’ve made my peace with it seeming inevitable, and we’ll cross that bridge after it’s fully confirmed I guess.

We’ve known for a while that Wano is special in the grand scheme of things. Something about the country is vital to Joyboy’s will and the much-alluded to Dawn. It’s been implied it was open to the world in the past. It may even have been an active trade partner to other ancient nations, if there’s anything to be read into about its reputation as a “country of gold” and the large amounts of gold found in Shandia without them any obvious mines or smelting ability. Kaido saying he chose Wano because it’s special somehow is just a reminder of the kinds of potentially huge revelations waiting in the aftermath of the battle.

It was a short chapter, which is always a shame before a break, but the end of a major fight always gives a decent bit to reflect on. See you all in a couple of weeks for maybe another fight conclusion, if Oda wants to use volume 101 to push Onigashima into its endgame.

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

Man, Oda’s really been knocking it out of the park the past few chapters. They’ve all felt like they have so much going on at once. There have certainly been parts of Onigashima where it felt like the plot was moving forward in inches every week, but lately we’ve been making substantial steps in every chapter.

Still no WT100 colour spread though? I’m starting to think it’s being saved for this year’s anniversary (is it 24 we’re up to?), which I guess makes since since polls are usually an anniversary thing anyway.

Briscola still fighting the samurai after getting his dumpling shows something that makes sense but hadn’t been properly illustrated before: the Gifters are very definitely still enemies until Tama tells them not to be, hence the importance of getting her to the balcony to give the order. People in these discussions have been acting like the Gifter fights were over the moment she showed up, but they’re not over yet.

Although, the chapter does raise the question of why she isn’t doing what Momo does and grabbing a Mary. How does her power work over radio waves or magic devil fruit comms?

We’re moving back into familiar territory with Sanji’s arrival on the Performance Floor. He’s fighting Queen. Chopper is flagged to fix Zoro up enough to likely face King, who’s been conspicuously offscreen for a few weeks now. Maybe he tag teams it with Marco. I’m sure some will be disappointed that Oda’s going back to the old formula after teasing Chopper stepping up to an enemy executive and Zoro being taken out surprisingly early by the end boss. It doesn’t seem like there’s going to be a lot of big surprises left in how characters match up and who takes out who. But to my mind, the most important thing is that the clashes are interesting, no matter how predictable the matchups.

While Sanji’s entrance was great, I don’t think his move and its effects were super well communicated. Queen’s neck spinning around to block the arrows makes sense. But I don’t how he managed to go from that to swinging low enough to take out Perspero (without cleaning up any of the samurai surrounding him) and end up with his whole body flipping over the air. It feels like there’s a panel missing that should show Sanji redirecting the dinosaur into the candyman. This could have been a bigger moment if it read more clearly.

Oda really wants me thinking there are dead Scabbards in this arc. Christ, the flashback and the silhouette are a brutal combo.

The voice Momo heard being Luffy’s is not something I think anyone was expecting. Is this a sign that people with the Voice of All Things are almost telepathic to each other, even unconscious? But then, Law’s crew talk about hearing Luffy’s voice through the water, and Kaido sensed Luffy’s animosity toward him even when Luffy was passed out, and I don’t think either of them have the VOAT. This one definitely begs some more explanation.

The rallying spread is great. This likely being the opening of volume 101, it may be setting the tone for the next ten chapters as the battle pushes toward its conclusion.

And Momo falls from Onigashima. It had to happen one way or the other, but using Shinobu’s powers to make it happen was smart. He’s flying Luffy back to the island on his back. It is foreseen and inevitable.

I really like the visual of Luffy upside down in the depths, silhouetted by the submarine’s light. It’s a simple, small panel, but it’s definitely memorable. I think it’ll come out really well in the colour volume sometime in the future.

Zues surviving in the Clima Tact is something a lot of people guessed. As with the Sanji and Zoro matchups, I think this flags something a few people have been hoping Oda would avoid: Ulti’s revival and final attack on Nami and Usopp. Nami’s got the “stronger lightning” she said she’d need to take the dinosaur out now, there’s no way in hell Oda isn’t giving her the chance to use it.

I hope Kid and Law’s tag team Big Mom fight gets enough screentime. Oda could definitely have fun playing them off each other.

Another small thing: I love seeing the hole Big Mom made in the side of the dome and I especially love that you can see the inside of the castle, including the gap between floors when you look closely at it. The attention to detail makes this series.

Yamato and Kaido have me excited for next week. Kaido’s still pretty lackluster in the personality department, so a spat with a family member could go a long way to fleshing him out in a way that his emtionally disconnected clobberings of everyone else didn’t. Similarly, Yamato absolutely needs more screentime to justify the marketing push to have him as a crew candidate. Interactions with current Strawhats and a place in the crew dynamics are the most important thing, but some more backstory told through one on one time with a major villain should also help.

The path to the end of Onigashima is looking pretty clear at this point. Final matchups are all but locked in, only pending Zoro’s setup with King, and key moments like Momo’s flight and Luffy’s return have been prepared. We could even start seeing the longer-running fights move toward conclusions in the next few chapters. The only variable that really feels like left to me is exactly how to stop Onigashima from falling on the capital. Surely it’s something to do with Momo and the flame clouds, but just having him be suddenly be able to lift the island like Kaido feels like too much of a leap in strength.

Oh, and I loved Oda’s comment, totally forgot he was playing Pokemon Go. Hope he got his Gibles. I didn’t have great shiny luck myself, but I got a lot of 3-star ones. I doubt I’ll find many battle-related problems that can stand up to seven high-IV Garchomp being chucked at them.

Pumped for next week, as always.