Captain M Entertainment

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

Another week, another new chapter that doesn’t come with the volume 97 cover. If it weren’t for all the breaks, we’d almost have volume 98 complete before it comes out (edit: spoke too soon, it’s finally here). Lucky the chapters are so damn good then.

That Navy bombardment’s really come out of nowhere on the cover. Still, better something abrupt like this than spending an installment on them showing up. At least Pez is having a good time.

I’m glad we get to see a bit of Sulong action before the inevitable cutaway from the minks and samurai’s doomed battle with Kaido, and having Jack get involved is a good bit of catharsis reaching back to Zou as well. Loved the shot of all of them transforming with Kaido in the background. Of course, we don’t get to see Dogstorm and Catviper just yet. My guess is that they’ll be the last ones standing when we come back to this conflict later on. They way the fur on a lot of these transformations is drawn makes me think of all the koma-animals we’ve seen in Wano. The curls and the flame-like tips are a good visual match. Maybe there’s a connection, given how Wano and Zou were apparently close allies back in the day. Could the koma-animals be mink descendents who leaned toward the animal rather than the human part of their genetics.

The Numbers continue to not really make good on the build-up of their silhouettes though. I’m sure there’ll be some interesting lore behind them, but from a character and a design perspective they’re just not really doing it for me at this point.

Sanji showing up for Momo is the kind of classic Mr Prince moment he’s been lacking for a long, long time. I’d be more endeared to the Sanji perv jokes if more of them led to cool moments like the “chasing prostitutes” saga did with this. As a side note, King is freaking enormous. We did kinda know this, but seeing how small Sanji is on the end of his pterodactyl beak really drives it home. If this is Sanji’s big fight, it’s going to be interesting to see what he does to measure up against such a monstrous opponent.

Yamato committing hard enough to the Oden bit to actually call Momo is son is great. Hopefully they get some time to interact and really let the absurdity of it all play out. I hope Yamato meets the Scabbards before his character act leads him to wanting to be his own man as well.

And to top things off we get a perfect Franky and Brook moment that really does cement them as the most underrated Strawhats. Brook was a clear MVP on Whole Cake Island but hasn’t had much to do in Wano yet I hope this teamup lasts.

The way things are being set up, my current prediction for the future is that Big Mom will be toppled by the Straw Hat crew working together as a team, perhaps minus Zoro and Sanji if they get caught up fighting King and Queen or something like that. Luffy delivers the last blow, of course, but if it’s a group effort he can have his win feel earned without having to expend himself too much to fight Kaido in a much more direct way right after. Big Mom has been shown to be vulnerable to combo attacks a few times now, so it would be really fitting for everyone to jump in and use their unique skills to overwhelm her together. Also the Oars fight was one of the series’ best and we haven’t really had much like it since.

As for the big translation debate of the week… yeah, I would have preferred the flowers callback over a quip about busting Big Mom’s nose. Oda’s crazy commitment to continuity is one of the things I love most about this series, and while I can easily accept that some callbacks and callforwards get lost in translation simply due to a lack of context when they were first done, it feels like a huge shame to sacrifice one that could easily have been kept. I hope it gets revised for the volume release.

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

Man, Oda has been on an absolute roll for the past few chapters. Everything from the end of the Oden flashback on has been good, but these past few weeks have been spectacular.

It warms my heart to finally see Jinbe hanging out with the rest of the crew on a colour spread after all this time. I’m a little disappointed he wasn’t being saved for a special one of some kind, but it’s still good just to see him.

After a little recap of Oden and Kaido’s interactions, we have an interesting moment where the Scabbards’ attacks actually pierce Kaido’s skin. I’ve seen some debate as to whether the Scabbards (or at least three of them) actually have the same advanced ryuo technique Luffy learned, or if their blades only went in because Kaido’s distress weakened him the same way Big Mom’s grief did. But if you look back to the Big Mom scene, the amount of anguish it takes to lower her defences also has her in a complete mental blank, screaming and unleashing her conqueror’s haki uncontrollably. Kaido is shocked here, but he hasn’t been emotionally upset to nearly that level. So I think it’s pretty clear this damage came purely from the Scabbards’ own power.

I wonder if ryuo has anything to do with Kin’s ability to cut fire, which hasn’t really come up at all since Punk Hazard. Seemed like it was going to be a much bigger deal back then…

I appreciate that Nami and Carrot are shown to be so capable of getting away on their own, as if they were just biding their time while Big Mom claimed victory.

Kaido’s little speech really ephasises how much more interconnected the story has become through the New World – and he doesn’t even seem to know about the events on Fishman Island that rube-goldberd into his alliance with Big Mom. I’ve been in discussions about how best to classify and break up arcs and sagas but this really goes to show that there’s no easy answer because the story’s second half just isn’t built the same as the first one, which the arcs/sagas system was really built for. As much as no one likes the overdone “New World” titling on the Viz volumes, in hindsight they actually hit pretty close to how the story’s being portrayed from scenes like this.

Luffy’s big declaration is a trademark One Piece moment that’s wonderfully in-character and incredibly satisfying, and makes the perfect coutnerpoint to Kaido’s talk of betrayal. I think he’s gonna do it too, there’s not going to be any Emperors getting away to be addressed in a future arc this time. It all happens here.

Some people think they see Hawkins with Law, but the outfit is wrong and the hair isn’t long enough. And Hawkins still didn’t seem particularly like he would change sides when we last saw him, even at Law’s mercy. He plays the odds, and against the sheer power of Kaido and Big Mom, the odds are still against Luffy and co. It does reraise the excellent question of who freed law (probably Drake) and what is their endgame (when and how do they turn on Kaido).

Marco and Perospero is an interesting alliance. I have no idea how that was negotiated or what its impact is going to be…

Finally, Kaido heads for the rooftop in a pair of gorgeous spreads. I’m already absolutely certain the panel of Kaido’s dragon form in front of the moon is going to be represented on volume 98’s cover in some way (but I may be getting ahead of myself there – I was really hoping for a volume 97 reveal alongside the chapter but we don’t even have that yet.) Having the minks waiting on the rooftop under the full moon was an incredibly dramatic touch. In a normal arc, I’d be expecting Oda to cut away from Kaido for a while so he can deal with his non-Luffy foes, but it’ll be pretty upsetting to do that now and miss out on seeing everyone’s Sulong forms. Oda better commit to this!

What’s interesting about the structure at this point is that another potential cavalry option is being played seemingly too early. I think the assumed structure going into the battle was that Kaido would steamroll everyone easily, but then there would be a moment of reinforcement and troop rallying – Jinbe arrives, Marco arrives, Sulongs, a Big Mom betrayal – to lead into the final act, but it doesn’t look like that’s where we’re going anymore. We’re throwing everything we have at Kaido at once, and the endgame isn’t going to be a recovery and a renewed charge, but most likely Luffy as the last man standing, capitalising on the damage done by everyone who fell in the group attempt to weaken the big boss. That feels a tad more stale than the alternative – it’s not so different structurally from the Doflamingo fight – so it’ll be interesting to see if Oda has a twist in mind, or if he’s just planning to do the familiar thing but bigger and more explosively than ever before.

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

Welp, that’s not where I expected the cover story to go. Pretty funny twist, but I’m stilling waiting on the big plot or lore thing that makes it all worthwhile. Lola and Chiffon’s reunion alone doesn’t feel like enough.

The handling of Kanjuro so completely offscreen is an odd choice. I’m not going to say he needed a particularly drawn out battle, but there could have been a way to show a bit more of it. Maybe instead of a group of random Beasts Pirates, Kan confronts the Scabbards either alone or with just his own paintings, so the montage of the gang fighting in the last chapter could have been more focussed on him. And you know, cut back in to the final hit landing rather than it already being done. Just changing that first panel of the chapter to one of Kiku coming through on the far side of him, the final attack just landed, or putting more evidence of it in the panels with her crying last chapter instead of using them for a cheap cliffhanger would make it feel a lot more like the battle really happened. But the bottom line is that Kanjuro was never shown as a fighter, not even when we did see him as an ally, and his part in the story is pretty close to done. If these are all the panels Oda can spare for him, so be it.

It’s hard to say if Kanjuro or Orochi will be back at this point. The opening acts of Wano were so Kurozumi-focussed it was easy to see them as the real villains rather than Kaido. Would it cheapen the real boss’s takeover to have them holding on. I could see something along the lines of Orochi’s extra heads going berserk without the influence of the main one and acting as a background source of chaos and threat to fodder while the right fights happen. Maybe an injured Kanjuro swoops in to finish him in a mutually-assured moment of death, closing the curtain on the Kurozumi dynasty once and for all. But that’s just a spitball idea for an arc that already has more than enough going on.

The Nami and Carrot moment is another one that has been handled oddly over the last two chapters. Last week it was really ambiguous whether they’d been beaten and left behind somewhere, or whether they were being dragged behind O-Lin or what. A panel or two might have been saved if they were shown in the hands of the Homies like this last week instead of making a mystery of it.

We spend the next few pages in what I assume will be the last bit of downtime for a while, building up to Momo’s big moment and making sure everyone is where they need to be for the big battle (while leaving a few like Sanji, Franky and Brook ambiguous so they can be played as wildcards when needed). How in-character that even with a mech to protect them, Usopp and Chopper have ended up in a storeroom, presumably to hide.

Momo’s memory of Luffy seems to reference chapter 701, but his talons getting in Luffy’s mouth wasn’t onscreen in the manga, and the wording is slightly different. “I’m gonna be the King of the Pirates one day” in chapter 701 vs “one day, I’m gonna be King of the Pirates” here. Oda’s mistake, or a quirk of the translation? I wonder if it’ll be changed for the volume release.

I don’t love Yamao as Luffy’s nickname for Yamato. It’s not quite different enough from his actual name, and doesn’t fir the English release’s stylings for Luffy’s other big nicknames. Traffy and Jaggy should make Yamato “Yammy” shouldn’t it? That said, I do feel validated that the Japanese behind the nickname suggests Luffy is respecting Yamato’s self-image and talking about him in masculine terms. Good on him.

And finally Momo gets his moment, shows his confidence and really starts becoming the man he was meant to be. From that moment on, Kaido’s fate is sealed, because we know there’s nothing that gets Luffy going more than a sincere show of conviction from someone without the strength to follow through personally. We know he’s gonna get right in there to back up the young Shogun’s words when no one else can. But as he explains to Yamato, it isn’t his fight. There’s others who’ve earned the chance to try first. And try they do. I really love how the Sunacchi thing has come together. It seemed like a throwaway moment early on, even with Kiku reacting in such a strong way when Momo said it, but bringing back the “surrender your name” part of the meaning right as Momo refuses to surrender his own is beautiful storytelling. Props to Oda. Of all the things in early Wano I was expecting to be super impressed by the payoff for, this was not one of them. Not much I can say about the final spread except that it’s absolutely gorgeous. Both in terms of story payoff and of the actual art with so many characters and moving objects all at once.

The ending obviously starts the battle, but leaves it wide open as to how it will progress. Kaido falling all the way to the party floor and starting to brawl side by side with Big Mom feels just as likely as him transforming mid-fall and flying around the roof with the Scabbards clinging to his back, spitting death as he circles. Either way, shit’s going down.

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

Man, this is a strong contender for chapter of the year, and this is the year that started with “Roger’s Adventure,” just going to show much hype there is behind it. I’m gonna put my prediction down that this is the first chapter of volume 98. Oda prefers to leave off a volume with a few things unanswered and a particularly surprising last page to get the readers back in for the next one, and I think the Yamato reveal combined with the lingering mysteries of the New Onigashima project and the uncertainty of whether the Scabbards will make it in time fits his style better than having those things revealed and answered and the comparatively less memorable final page of Luffy and Yamato running. But it’s not like a he’s never ended a volume in an odd or unconventional-seeming point either, so it could go either way.

The colour spread is nice, but weirdly understated for an anniversary one. Interesting character choice as well. It’s a pretty strong indication of who the stars of the show are going to be in this arc. The Jinbei tease just keeps on going though. When he finally does show up in one of these it’d better be something special, damn it!

Hey is it just me, or does the pirate on the far right of the group Kanjuro confronts the scabbards with look a bit like Coribou? Seriously, it’s the same weapon and everything.

Of course, in the cover story it was only Caribou who was taken away by Drake, but Coribou could easily have come on yet another rescue mission, been beaten, dyed his hair and assimilated into Kaido’s crew in exchange for his captain’s life, in another Kid/Killer situation. I’ll see you guys in the volume 98 SBS.

I love Kiku getting a spotlight moment to take on Kanjuro (and that one panel near the end suggests we’ll flash back to this scene again a little later, so that’s good) but I’m not totally wowed by her speech about her katana’s wounds not vanishing in the afterlife. It feels a little…

…which is absolutely not a good image to invoke. It might have flowed a bit better with the foreshadowing of the “lingering snow” interpretation of her epithet, but even it still has me going “what does that even mean?”

I still want to see more from Yamato before I decide where I stand with him. He’s strong and proactive enough to be imposing, but we’re seeing this week just how naive and sheltered his enthusiasm is, and how transparent the amount of effort his putting into the Oden shtick is. I want to see where this is going and how the two sides are going to be balanced going forward. That said, I loved the panels of him and Luffy peeking through the ceiling, with the little detail of the crack growing slowly throughout the chapter. That was fun.

Despite the outright request to join, at this stage I don’t see Yamato as crewmate material. He only wants to do it because Oden did it, and we’re seeing here that as much as he loves Oden, it’s not natural for him to act like him. He’s not free like Oden was. He’s not making his own choices like Oden did, just blindly following Oden’s logic. He looks at Luffy and rates him on a scale from “more Oden” to “less Oden.” Yamato is out here learning to game “what character are you” personality quizzes until he gets Oden, not realising that Oden isn’t even in the possibly results because taking a “what character are you” personality quiz isn’t something Oden would ever do because he doesn’t need to be another character. The most logical character arc for Yamato seems to me that it would be learning to act as his own man (or his own woman, if he decides the male gender doesn’t have much appeal without Oden’s identity; it’s cool to take some time working these things out and experimenting with how you want to be seen) and breaking away from Oden’s story to forge his own path. And I think that’ll probably lead him away from joining Luffy. But we’ll see.

I’m a big fan of Olin’s entrance with the army of yokai. It’s great how the depiction of her power adapts to the setting, going from the Silly Symphonies look in Tottoland to traditional spirits here. As much as I think this’ll be her last arc in the spotlight, I would love to see this in more different locations. I’m not as big a fan as how the battle over Zeus was handled. I’m usually okay with some offscreening for minor skirmishes, especially this late in the story, but I feel we could have gone one more panel here. I’m not even sure where Nami and Carrot are meant to be in that little panel of them. Is Olin dropping them behind her as she enters? Robin’s panel suggests so, but it definitely could have been conveyed better.

All the talk of Ancient Weapons and the One Piece suggests the two Emperors here have some solid info on where and what they are that we should see the crew claiming when the battle is done. Between those and Oden’s journal, not to mention the Reverie subplots, it’s easy to see how Wano leads into the series’ endgame.

I don’t for one minute think Orochi is out of the game permanently. There’s too many different powers in play that could be used to fake or survive that kind of thing, and this is a world where Wapol’s Twenty Doctors could stitch his head back on without even leaving a scar, even if it was for a gag. Still, the betrayal ups the stakes considerably and is a big shock to the status quo. Will the newly headless samurai and ninja Orochi brought submit to Kaido, or will they be shown the kind of honour they’re meant to have by the Scabbards and rise up? Either way, chaos and complications and a very exciting battle ahead.

Final note, Yamato looks to have shrunk considerably in the last panel, but I think it’s just a matter of weird perspective. Also, the Beasts Pirates recognise him even without the mask, which if nothing else shows his male identity among the Onigashima locals isn’t based on trickery or hiding his true identity, for whatever that’s worth to the discussion.

Fantastic chapter all up. Can’t wait to see where it’s all leading in a (long) couple of weeks.

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

We’re back again, for what I assume to be the last chapter of volume 97. It makes for a pretty good set of chapters, probably the most consistent Wano volume so far following a long run of setup volumes so dense with worldbuilding and character intros that it was often hard to figure out the direction the arc was going. 97 is still doing setup work for the real fighting, but at this stage all the new elements are much more cohesively pointed toward the arc’s conclusion, even if there’s still a way to go.

The cover story stretches on another chapter, even if the double-Enel face is a lot of fun. After this I’m expecting the twist that wraps it up – like Caribou being on one of Kaido’s islands, Enel’s moon lore and so on and so forth. Soon the slow sections will be worth it. Soooooon.

I’m surprised at the amount of debate over Blunder Bagua. I thought it was a really clever way to handle the joke. You’re not translating a joke if you just write in the corner “this was really funny in Japanese, we swear.” And you can explain all you want why it was funny in Japanese, that doesn’t make it funny in English. If Oda’s intent was for the panel to be funny and the translation doesn’t make it funny, you’ve failed the author’s intent, no matter how “accurate” and unchanged the translation otherwise is. And, of course, by not having it work as a joke, you get people like Drumztv on the first page of the thread just looking at the use of numbers in the wordplay and taking the line seriously as a legitimate power scaling thing (somehow missing the the Bam sound effect and comedically timed blood coughing that were also meant to play up the ridiculousness of what she’s saying).

The infiltration of the party is a great scene that calls back to the fake smiles of Ebisu town – their situation forces the samurai to smile and laugh externally while they’re suffering inside, just like so many others victimised by Kaido and Orochi’s rule. Sincere smiles and laughter have always been central to One Piece’s philosophy and storytelling (you might call the whole thing some kind of “laugh tale” even), so Wano really stands out for repeatedly emphasising forced and masking smiles, and turning them into a sign of suffering.

Some absolutely gorgeous spreads this week, with the submarine breaching the water being a real highlight. I love the way Wano’s waters are drawn. It’s going to be such a same going back to regular oceans when the arc is done.

I guess most of Law’s crew is staying behind. I expected at least Jean Bart to have a role to play, but I guess these guys just aren’t really fighters.

Marco talking about spotting a strange shadow at sea is a curious new factor. The obvious answer is Perospero, who we saw coming in last chapter, but I actually doubt that’s the case. After kicking the Queen Mama Chantre off the waterfall, Marco should have been miles ahead of Perospero, way too far ahead to see him approaching. I think this has to be something else. Something bigger, maybe, like Zunesha hanging around the outside of Wano, waiting for his orders.

Izo is here (and Cat has a cool new gun arm) which is great, but the real reason his intro spread is exciting is that his kimono doesn’t match the person who was “surprised [marco] got involved” a couple of chapters ago. That means there’s one more important player yet to be revealed, and it’s probably the mystery man who met with Crocus just after the timeskip. Nearly nine years we’ve been left to wonder about that. One Piece just isn’t going to feel the same without it hovering over our heads 

And then we come to the big reveal of Yamato. Oda’s depictions of queer people have always had me in two minds. I wouldn’t call them the best out there by any means – with the disgusted reactions of characters like Sanji played as a joke, non-passing crossdressers played for shock and laughs and a whole lot of ‘predatory gay’ stereotypes – but they’ve never read as malicious either. The man has a clear affection for Japan’s drag scene, he just also has some blind spots that I think come from assuming that ultra-flamboyant and performative environment is indicative of all of queer culture (as well as there certainly being some differences between the Japanese and English-speaking queer cultures that alter what is and isn’t acceptable, and far be it from me to say the culture I know is the only one that’s got it right). Kiku was a clear improvement over previous efforts, even if the scanlators really did a number on the western community’s understanding of her by having her answer the “are you a man” question with a “yes but” as opposed to having her just hit right back with “I’m a woman at heart” like in the original. I also like that Izo hasn’t been retconned to match his sister’s identity. The distinction between a trans person and someone who just feels right crossdressing is a cool thing to maintain. Yamato though, I have my reservations about. Calling him a daughter in the Odabox while every other character and instance has gone with male pronouns has only created confusion. The idea of making him “Oden-gendered” rather than just feeling more right as a man has shades of the kinds of discourse that tells trans people they’re just dressing up in a costume, or accuses them of being ‘trans-trenders.’ I’ll sit back and see where it goes, given that two pages isn’t a lot of depiction to make a final judgement on, but I’m wary. That said, obviously I’ll be using male pronouns for Yamato. He’s made it clear what he goes by, and the respectful way to treat people is to acknowledge that, even if you don’t agree or understand their reasons for choosing it.

Hopefully we can be a little better about that here than the reddit threads I’ve looked in on have been.

Anyway, the implications of Yamato carrying on Oden’s will (and being mates with Ace!) are extremely exciting. If we’re going to get some series endgame info about the One Piece and the truth of the world after the battle, as expected, this is where it’s gonna come from. This is not at all the character I expected to be flinging us forward into the final arcs, but Oda does as he wants, unpredictable as always.

See you all in two weeks for probably the first chapter of volume 98 (unless that one somehow manages to have a better-feeling stopping point than this, but I feel pretty safe in my prediction here).

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

This was a fun little action chapter, wasn’t it?

Pound’s reunion with his daughters and their husbands feels like a good way to cap off the adventure portion of this cover story. Next few should start wrapping it up, hopefully with a last minute main plot sting, just like always. I think it could be Pound bringing some insider info about what happened in Tottoland after our main POV moved away from it that could change how we’re seeing the current battle, or what kind of fallout we’re anticipating.

Perospero’s quick return is welcome. It would have been a shame for the Big Mom pirates to come all this way and not feature at all in the main event. I wish he’d managed to get more of the crew up the falls with him, but it’s a start.

The Brachiotank switching to walk mode is an odd development. Will it have some baring in how it’s used for the coming battles, or is this just for the funny visual? I loved Prometheus being a little shit and Big Mom using her powers to make yokai though. Sanji disappearing to look for women is a disappointingly overplayed gag, but here’s hoping Oda’s just using it to set up a much-needed Mr Prince moment.

Orochi’s acting like he’s back on top of the world. It’s fine. At some point he’ll realise the forces sent to capture Luffy, Law and Kid aren’t coming back and return to fear mode.

I’m not the first to point this out, but I do think it’s interesting that we’ve got a bunch of insect Gifters working together against Zoro. We’ve already seen Who’s who’s cat squad, and previous chapters have shown bee themed and ghostly looking Gifters working together in groups of two or three. Do the leaders within the Beast Pirates all have themed squads? Whose minions is Zoro up against? And it only be the Tobi Roppo who do this anyway, since there was no real cohesion among Queen’s subordinates at the prison. Interesting too that them seem so enthusiastic about following Kaido and recruiting for his forces. That wasn’t the impression I got of their vibe previously.

Luffy VS Ulti and Page One was a really snappy bit of action that flowed well. Luffy grabbing Ulti’s horns mid-flip and slamming her down was a sick move. One of those beats you hope the anime lets have the speed and power it deserves, rather than breaking it up with a big reaction shot as he grabs her, or turns it into some kind of pulling contest before he can slam her. The elephant gun into poor Pay Pay was a nice panel, but where does Pay Pay go after it? If that was it for him, it would have been nice to have just a small panel of him falling, or have him unconscious in the background of another panel. Oh well, I guess if he was still up, he’d have made some objection to what Yamato was doing.

That said, these are just small skirmishes. I don’t expect either Ulti or Page One to be totally out of the coming battle, even if this means they won’t be coming in at 100%.

Side story: as a young kid, I loved dinosaurs. Like, I love them. Read every book I could get my hands on, even if they were above my level. In my first years at school, when you’d have a letter of the week and the week would start with the class yelling out a bunch of things starting with that letter to go on the blackboard, I’d frustrate my teachers every week by calling out dinosaur names that neither of us had a chance in hell of spelling properly. Seeing users and elsewhere struggle with pachycephalosaurus gives me a pleasant nostalgic tingle. Hard to imagine Oda not also being a precocious kid with more memorised dinosaur names than common sense.

Yamato makes a shock appearance and seems to be on Luffy’s side. I don’t think there’s much I can say about his obvious Oden cosplay that hasn’t been said. Why this? How does it affect his relationship with his father? There’s a lot of questions and very little evidence to sift through for answers. With nothing more to go on, I like the theory that he found the logbook featured so prominently through the Oden flashback, but I wouldn’t want to commit to believing anything is the correct answer this soon. But I don’t expect to wait too long for the truth. Next chapter or the one after should warp up volume 97, and any bombshells Yamato has to drop would make a great end-of-book cliffhanger.

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

This was a fun chapter. Things are going well for the alliance, if anything, too well. My mental alarm bells that things are about to start going wrong are ringing, but they’ve been doing that for about half of this volume so far, so it’s probably meaningless. My guess at this point is that the strategy of getting everyone in and encircling Kaido will succeed, but things will take a turn for the south when he actually stands up and starts fighting alongside his underlings.

One of the highlights of the opening scene, aside from all the extra reasons to hate the villains, is Orochi’s incredible terror. Now there’s a villain who really appreciates how bad Luffy’s presence is for him. Quake in your boots, little man. Momo is set for execution by crucifixion. I guess they’ve learned their lesson about oil baths. Will there be a parallel with Yasu’s execution and the gang’s failure to stop that, perhaps?

It felt weird at first that Marco and Catviper didn’t travel together, which was the impression I got at the end of the last chapter. But on a quick reread, I guess it makes sense. Marco and Cat met on the day the Reverie started, and the news that the Warlords were being disbanded and Weevil removed from the picture came out a week later. Being on a time limit and all, there’s no way Cat stuck around that long. And I guess Izo chose to go with him at the time. It’s hard to say who else we should expect to be here, given that no other Whitebeard Pirates commanders were seen at Sphinx and Marco doesn’t appear to have brought a ship. It might just be him and Izo. (And maybe a third character – some have speculated the stripy-robed figure to be the same one seen meeting with Crocus in chapter 631 rather than Izo, but we’ll see.) I’m curious to see what Oda does with Izo as an actual character following his handling of Kiku.

Elsewhere, Denjiro shows off a swole back and Usopp and Chopper (kind of) take on Big Mom. She seems to have taken more damage than expected from the cannon blast to the face, but it’s probably just dust and ash to enhance the ridiculousness of the whole scene. It would be cool to have their retreat take them back to the Rhino Bike for a General Franky VS Big Mom clash, but I think it was implied that Franky was going with the other group and they were going to meet up at the back. Oh, and is Shinobu calling Chopper Chobro as well now? Has she done that before? It’s fun that it’s spreading. Finally, I kinda hope Nami finds a way to tame prometheus as well. That’d really make her a force to be reckoned with.

And at last, the encounter no one was expecting: Luffy meeting Ulti and Pageone. I don’t know if I’m feeling the start of a genuine fight here. The chapter title suggests Luffy and Ulti have more in common than they do different, but a team-up is a million miles from being on the cards, and it’s not like Luffy needs more allies just yet. Very interesting.

And man, Oda totally forgot about the dirt, oshiruko and blood on Luffy’s face in the middle of the last page there. Wonder if that’s getting fixed up for the volume release.

This is a good week to not have a break (aren’t the all thought) because I’m really keen to see where all of this is going.

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

Jump cover! Nice looking, but plain. Interesting that the dragon in the parasol has Kaido’s long shape, but more of Orochi’s colours. Probably doesn’t mean anything, but it’s a thing that’s there.

The colour spread has a sick palette with all that neon lighting and lots of little details and bits of English lettering to zoom in on. It’s a huge tease that there’s still no Jinbei, but Oda will do as he wants. At a glance, I thought Nami was wearing a shirt with a picture of herself on it, which would have been very on brand. Probably not quite that, after a zoom in, but it still tickled me. Luffy’s holding a record that says Binks’ Sake, which is slightly unfortunate for the English version, which had to swap out “sake” to fit the melody of the line and keep a rhyme scheme going. I always feel bad for them when Oda drops a new romanisation that contradicts a decision from a decade ago that can’t be changed now. The official release gets enough flack for every little deviation from what people expect. That said, now that the “Binks’ Sake” romanisation that comes up most among fans as been validated (a previous spread used “Binks of Liquor” so we won’t call it 100% locked in), I’d be interested to see if anyone has ever suggested a version of that first line that keeps “sake” but also rhymes and sticks to the original melody. “Binks’ sake is underway, delivered over ocean spray” or something like that.

Basically everything is made up and the romanisations don’t matter.

Moving into the chapter proper, there’s a few more Meltan in Kid’s arm. I hope the people who make Pokemon teams for fictional characters are paying attention to this. I love that it’s Meltan of all Pokemon that’s struck such a chord with Oda though.

I really don’t know what to make of the Numbers at this point. Haccha has a pretty mundane design compared to the silhouettes, but also we never saw a full set of ten silhouettes and I don’t think he matches any of the ones we did see. There’s obviously something special about these guys beyond just their size, but we don’t have enough information to say what yet. I’m sure there’ll be some payoff to Haccha’s anticlimax in the future.

Who’s Who is shaping up to be the star Tobi Roppo, and I’m 100% on board for it.

I’m going to file away Nami’s enthusiasm for infiltrating the pleasure house in my “lesbian headcanon” folder. I don’t need to be told it’s unrealistic to think Oda would actually go that way, I know it. This is just for me.

The infiltration sequence ends with Chopper and O-Lin reunited. Is Big Mom going to snap back to her old personality? I can see her flip-flopping as a great way to create chaos throughout the battle.

And finally, Cat, Izo and Marco arrive! I’ve gotta say, I wasn’t expecting this so soon. Actually, I’m really struggling to picture the structure of this coming battle. The obvious setup going in was that Luffy and co would rush in half-cocked and end up in a bad spot, then one of the many extra groups with a stake would show up in a grand cavalry charge leading into the final stage. It’s a tried, true and very satisfying formula, and with Kid, Jinbei and Marco all acting as possible candidates for the big rescue there was plenty to speculate on. But here we are, things are still going pretty well for the alliance, and the backup crews just keep showing up. First Kid was recruited offscreen and there at the start, then Jinbei just kind of appears before they even land, and now Marco casually makes his entrance. It feels like Oda’s put all his cards on the table too soon. Things aren’t going to go the obvious attack>tragedy>cavalry charge route, so I’m very interested to see what Oda’s got waiting up his sleeve.

It is a little sad that Marco’s dialogue implies the Big Mom pirates won’t make it into Wano until the battle is either over or mostly over. I hope Perospero puts the effort in to prove him wrong on that point. It’d be a shame to bring them all this way and bar them from getting involved for real.

And no break next week! A small bit of good news in these dark and uncertain times. I’ll take all the good I can get at the minute.

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

Can we call the manga officially bi-weekly now? I’m welcome to anything that keeps Oda and his staff safe and healthy, but it really does hurt a bit. One Piece is comfort reading and its constant stream of new content is one of the things that’s made it owrk so well in that role for me over the years.

Anyway, the action is getting started sooner than expected. I wonder how Oda plans to pay off on the set up of the Tobi Roppo and their challenge against the Lead Performers, formalising the Big Mom/Kaido alliance and Kaido’s big announcement if the festival is getting interrupted so soon. Are we gonna see Kaido just casually giving his speech while Luffy runs wild in the space below? I might have been inclined to say this skirmish was a false start of some kind, but Luffy and Zoro being recognised and Kid joining the fray says to me that Oda’s committing to a big fight now. I thought that would be saved for the end of the volume, so it’s hard to say where we are in the story structurally.

One thing I really loved in this chapter was all the background character designs. So many unique Gifters! I wonder if they’ll all get named in an SBS or a Vivre Card. If Big Mom gets 80ish named crewmates why shouldn’t Kaido have the same?

I noticed Zoro is using Enma for the first time in his tower slicing scene. I guess he got a handle on it pretty quickly, given that there’s no visual haki-draining effect like when he first tested it. There’s not even a thought bubble about the sword being hard to control like when he tested his new blades at Whiskey Peak. Or he didn’t actually use it yet and it was just out for dramatic effect in that early stage. He appears to have sheathed it again and swapped in Wado Ichimonji by the time he and Luffy ditch their disguises.

I usually don’t really go into line by line translation issues in a big chapter thoughts post, but the exchange between Luffy and Zoro that goes “but this isn’t a war!” “I know! But they haven’t figured us out yet!” is really uncharacteristically awkward for Stephen’s translation. I think I’m reading the meaning as “we can’t do this yet, it’s not the real battle” “I know, we’re still disguised,” but the wording of it really just doesn’t work for me. I might be alone in that, phrases sounding right and getting the right vibe for a single specific line is a super subjective thing, after all.

Queen not just welcoming the the Tobi Roppo’s challenge but actively planning to eliminate one of them is an interesting detail. It’s another thing that makes it odd to start heating up the action so soon. When the war gets underway the Beasts Pirates will likely be forced to present a united front, and I don’t know what will happen with this kind of intrigue after that.

Cool to see one of the Numbers in the back when Luffy and Zoro are fighting. Does that mean they’ll be de-silhouetted and move into the spotlight sooner rather than later?

Apoo shows that Oda hasn’t forgotten one of the core things that makes Devil Fruits so interesting to begin with – creativity is more important than raw power. It’s a shame some of the readers haven’t been able to keep the same thing in mind, just looking at the responses to this bit.

I’m in two minds about the disguises being ditched so soon. On one hand, Luffy’s captain coat is a treat and I’m happy to see it again. On the other, Zoro’s back in his default New World outfit from all the way back on Fishman Island. It’s not a bad look, but the merch and advertising has so oversaturated prettymuch all those outfits to the point that it’s just underwhelming each time they show up. I’d rather it have been his ronin outfit.

And finally, I don’t consider Kid the most compelling character at this point, but I still absolutely love his screentime because the amount of detail on his mecha arms is mindblowing. If a fight is what we’re getting, I’m glad he’s gonna be part of it.

Wow, that ended up being more than I expected to have to say about a chapter that’s mostly action. It’s gonna be a long couple of weeks before the next one, but I’m expecting big things from it.

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

Hooray, we’re back! And then off for another week. It hurts, but I’d rather Oda keep himself safe. It seems other manga are going to be more consistent than One Piece. I wonder if it’s because of Oda’s age and previous health scares (I don’t know the actual average age of Jump authors to be fair, but it seems like a young man’s game), or if the editors are just enforcing it to protect the goose that lays the golden eggs.

First up this week, Pound turns up alive, in a development that should shock no one. Like, besides it being a One Piece thing, catching a spear to the back of the head and shaking it off is one of the first things we ever saw him do.

Dude’s got a thick skull!

The first few pages were honestly a little recap-y, but once the chapter got going it really got going. The return of the Black Rhino and the Brachio Tank is extremely exciting. I’d almost forgotten about these things, let lone had any hope of them being used in a battle. That’s the General Franky locked in for the big fight, and that’s extremely exciting. It shows Oda setting up even the less-fighty members of the crew to go all out in the coming battle.

I loved every part of the crew interactions in this chapter, especially being able to see Jinbei fit right in with the established dynamics. He’s a genuinely really fun addition to the party. I hope we get to see more of Robin and Jinbei together in the future. It’s good to see two members of the crew being able to get along in a less bombastic way.

I’ll be shocked if the silhouette watching them isn’t Yamoto. There’s not a lot of other characters it’d make sense to have there.

I’m still having fun with the Tobi Roppo as well. Ulti’s complete lack of respect is really entertaining, especially since we have previously seen Kadio waste underlings on a drunken whim. This girl’s fearless! The amount of tension between the Tobi Roppo and the Lead Performers makes for an interesting crew feel that I’m interested to see play out. Kaido runs a seemingly genuine meritocracy. His men follow him not because he inspires them but because he gives them the means to advance through their strength. It’s no wonder his strategy of breaking and assimilating challengers through the prison camps as been successful. You have to wonder how many of them “broke” with a plan to work their way up the ranks and challenge the big boss a second time. They stay loyal because they think the best second chance is inside the organisation, not outside of it. It’ll be interesting to see how this group reacts when Kaido finally does fall. It brings to mind this quote from the most recent One Piece Magazine: “What makes Roger’s pirate crew strong and united despite their small number is their confidence in the leader.” Luffy obviously takes after this kind of leadership, and we’re being positioned to see the two styles go head to head in the coming volumes.

Finally, after the thematic and philosophic clash between Luffy and Kaido has been set up, we go onto the personal stakes. It’s been easy to forget about Luffy’s connection to Tama and her struggles despite most of act one being a mini arc setting all that up, just because it’s been so long since they had a proper interaction. I think she’ll stick in the mind a little better on the reread, but it was a good choice to use the food at this banquet here to invoke her again. I’ve seen comments from people thinking Luffy hasn’t built enough of an emotional investment in Wano for them to care about him fighting for it. Well here it is. The big reminder is coming up, probably next chapter.

I don’t think this is the thing that exposes the infiltration though. There’s almost half of volume 97 to go yet, and the real start of the fighting feels like an end-of-book development.