Captain M Entertainment

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

Finally! The end of Act Two! Things are really picking up now, and what an excellent chapter to end on. My only real complaint about the series at the minute has nothing to do with the chapter at all, it’s just the way they teased the volume 84 cover in Jump but didn’t follow it up with the full reveal on the official website like they normally do after it makes it into the magazine. Where’s the cover, Shueisha? You’re killing me over here.

The alliance feels 90% ready to go to Onigashima by this point. The army is gathered, the heavy hitters have new toys to play with, the prophecy seems close to fulfilled and everyone’s out of the enemy’s line of sight (at least until the last page). The only loose end is the samurai imprisoned in the capitol, but I don’t think they’re likely to stay there long. If I was a betting man I’d say when we cut back for Act Three it’ll begin in medias res with an operation to break them out on the evening of the raid, just in time to join the fight. But of course, we’re a bit too ready for action right now. The raid is going to go wrong hard and fast after the action starts, because that’s just how stories go. Right now, there’s not any real sense of tension (anticipation, certainly, because this is going to be a spectacular set piece, but our guys don’t feel like they’re in real danger going into it) and we haven’t yet had our darkest hour.

Franky anticipating such a huge number of soldiers obviously indicates surprise reinforcements at a critical moment, but I don’t think it’ll be the Grand Fleet, despite Oda’s recent comments. I’m still pretty sure their big moment will have something to do with the Reverie rather than Luffy personally, but we’ll see. Catviper’s arrival, Marco showing up, turncoats from Orochi’s people who decide they’d rather support the old dynasty or a full uprising from the commonfolk are more likely to fill those extra ships in my opinion.

Carrot made her first appearance in a while, and to be honest I’m underwhelmed. Getting ready to fight in front of Pedro’s grave should be a huge emotional moment, but what’s with that expression. She looks so neutral. Not sad. Not particularly determined. There’s just not much of anything to read into that face. The march of the red scabbards on the previous page, however, is a beautiful and powerful moment. It’s been nearly seven years since Kinemon and the samurai subplot were first introduced, and now it’s all coming to a conclusion. The final pages of the chapter make it clear the result of this battle is going to a turning point for the One Piece universe, but really it’s a turning point for the manga as well. Almost a decade we’ve been building to this conflict, so the series can’t possibly be the same after it’s done.

Law being shown after Orochi gets intel from the traitor is an obvious red herring. I’m inclined to stand by the theories saying its Kanjuro. Just based on who knows what about the plan and what information has been leaked recently and in the past, he makes the most sense. I’m sure he’ll have his reasons/redemption arc though.

A final note: funny how it hasn’t been explicitly stated yet that Komurasaki and Hyori are the same person. You would almost think there’s something to that, but we see in the last page here that Hyori has taken the place of Komurasaki playing the act out. Oda’s obviously not trying to hide that they’re the same person, so maybe he just thinks its so obvious it doesn’t need to be stated. Still, a throwaway “I disguised myself as a courteasan all those years” would be nice just to get it all swept away. Unless there’s another twist coming, like Komurasaki is just faking being Hyori or something. I’m probably overthinking things.

Very excited for next week. I’m guessing the intermission will be at most a single chapter, same as last time. I’ve said elsewhere I don’t think we’ll be shown the Reverie directly, we’ll only get hints of it through newspapers and tangentially related characters hearing news. It’s going to be the ultimate long-haul tease until Wano is over and done with.

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

There’s some chapters where you read it and you just know Oda did a couple of pages less than normal even before you look at the pagecount. This was the kind of chapter where I would have guessed a plus size 19 pages right after reading, even though it’s actually just 15. What a week for One Piece!

Bege’s story has taken a near-immediate turn from the direction most people expected it to go. No idea where he could go from here, but the implications are interesting. We don’t know whether this is taking place the day after Whole Cake Island or a little later, so it’s pretty likely the Reverie is still running in the cover pages. It’d be very interesting to get some extra glimpses of it this way, but I kinda doubt we will.

The new about how entry and exit from Wano works has interesting implications. It’s a pretty common theory that the island is a bunch of smaller islands put together by the Ancient Giants, but the diagram shown this week really doesn’t look much like that. It looks to me a lot more like a solid, if oddly shaped, landmass rather than an island cluster.

The Numbers are an odd-looking group. I’m not convinced that they’re Ancient Giants yet. The body shapes are off compared to what we’ve seen, and the horns are all wrong. It doesn’t feel right that Onigashima, the skull on Punk Hazard, Oars, Little Oars Jr and Kaido would all have the same horns while the rest of the species is totally different. I’m just not seeing it. They could be from a seriously diluted bloodline, or be failed attempts from the World Government to recreate the Ancient Giants, but they’re certainly not the same thing.

But of course the big news is Kaido and Big Mom’s alliance. Holy shit guys. I think the fact that even Onigashima itself looked shocked is all the confirmation needed of what a huge deal this is. It’s absolutely the right choice for the direction of the story though. I wrote a lot of words about the possibility of a team-up over in the Wano thread the other week which I won’t repeat all of here, but my feelings are essentially that this is a necessary development to flesh out Kaido’s somewhat lacking own crew. It also raises the chances of Luffy being able to take on an Emperor in a one on one fight (or at least do most of the fighting himself). A team effort to topple Kaido was a good theory before this, but now that there’s definitely enough enemies to give all of Luffy’s huge alliance a decent fight before it comes to that, we can feel a lot more certain our boy is gonna stand his ground against either Kaido or Big Mom for real.

Worth noting also, this is confirmed as the first chapter of volume 95. This is just the opening of the book. Imagine how much more crazy things are going to get if this is the starting point!

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

I really liked this chapter. Kawamatsu’s been a low key favourite ever since his reveal and I really liked Gyukimaru’s design from the start, so getting such a sweet story for the two of them was a treat. No idea where this leaves volume 94 though, because as nice as the chapter was it still didn’t feel like as good a ending note as Big Mom and Kaido’s clash. It’s not usually safe to bet on 12 chapters to a volume but eh, we’ll see where we this time next week.

Bege’s story is going an interesting direction. We know that both Lola and Thriller Bark have left the Florian Triangle (though how Thriller Bark’s movements aren’t big news to the whole world given that it’s essentially a moving island and as such pretty hard to miss is beyond me, and how has it managed to cross the Red Line again, for that matter?) but Bege doesn’t, so what’s he going to run into instead. The big monster worked just fine as a permanent mystery, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little keen for the lore behind it.

There was some great background art in this chapter, from the strikingly shaped mounds of the eternal graves to the fine detail of Gyukimaru’s weapons stockpile. “Another day of ransacking graves ahead!” is a great line as well.

I’ve seen people who don’t believe Onimaru could be just a fox, saying it has to be a devil fruit or something, but I think it works with the broader themes and ideas of wano to have that kitsune mythology just be a thing that happens. Or Oda could work up some lore for the Koma animals specifically, say that the can imitate humans with the right motivation and connection to someone to model themselves off.

Now Enma and Shusui are an interesting case. I find it hard to believe that Shusui is just going to be set back on Ryuma’s grave to appease the Sword God. That goes hard against the philosophy of putting arms for the living ahead of respect for the dead seen earlier in the chapter. The army needs every sword it can get, which raises the question of who, if not Zoro, is going to use Shusui. Looking forward to seeing Enma in action though!

Also rip the theory that Sakazuki caused Kaido’s scar. I really liked that one…

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

Yeah, this was a fairly transitional chapter, which surprised me, given that I was expecting the end of volume 94. We’re getting an 11 chapter volume then, I guess.

There’s not much here to discuss since it’s all cooldown and groundwork. Love that Kawamatsu is back in the fray so soon, and curious to see what his connection to Gyukimaru is, because I also love his design. Kaido VS Big Mom is, I think, the most important ongoing happening for Wano. I made a post in the Wano thread talking about how there’s even chance of it resolving in them becoming allies or remaining enemies and how that will decide the direction of the rest of the arc. I would be surprised if Oda doesn’t wrap it up in the next chapter or two (possibly for the end of the volume), because something really does need to happen to up the stakes at this point.

The single hair out of place in Big Mom’s fight panel is a touch I liked. Both her and Kaido have that crosshatched bruising/dirt to show how legitimate the battle is. Interesting that this is the point where Kaido first shows anything resembling battle damage. Even against another Emperor, I wasn’t expecting his apparent invincibility to be undermined so soon and by anyone other than Luffy.

Queen’s joke bit was actually pretty funny.

Babanuki is back in one piece, as expected. Chopper really knows what he’s doing, huh? Brings to mind an old webcomic…

And yeah, that’s prettymuch it. The yakuza guys look interesting, but there’s not much else to judge them on based on a single panel. There should be one more, right? Wonder if he’s anyone we’ve met already.

Glad we’re not getting a break. It’d be rough to wait after such a lightweight chapter.

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

This was a great chapter that got a lot out of the way really quick. We’re nearly at the end of volume 94 here, with the next chapter likely being the last one, so it’s going to be interesting to see what Oda does to top Big Mom vs Kaido as an end-of-volume cliffhanger.

Poor Law can’t catch a break even in the colour spreads, but too bad for him, I reall like this one. Every part of it seems to be in motion. Nothing’s just sitting still. It’s a piece with so much energy in it, which makes it a joy to look at.

We have to be near the end of an act here with the status quo changing so dramatically in both Oden and the Capital. However, I hope that a solution is found for the imprisoned samurai before the act switches over. We don’t need another whole act of building up to prison breaks. Even if the answer is just “these guys have their own plan that they’ll execute on the night of the battle. And I wonder what new roles the crew is going to pick up now they’re effectively barred from the Capital. Franky’s role is pretty obvious, but who knows for the rest. (and speaking of Franky’s role, the panel with all the decrepit ships is my favourite of the week. It’s so damn detailed).

The Law situation is an odd one. It’s hard to imagine what his plan is aside from trading his own life for his crew’s. If we knew more about Hawkins’ ability to predict the actions of people (as opposed to broad things like survival odds) we might be able to make a better guess based on his actions, but it’s all still a bit vague. When his crew puts him before the plan, is that something Law expects, or are they about to get in the way? There’s just not enough info right now!

Robin and Tama’s moment is a cute one. I like the interpretation that Robin feels a kinship with the girl, having become a government target at a similar age.

Kaido and Big Mom’s meeting was great to finally see after all this build up. We get another little hint at Rox, which we’ll hopefully learn more of in the future. It’s an interesting relationship the two have, where he orders her freed but a fight starts right away. Will they stop at talk after doing the obligatory conqueror’s haki dick measuring contest? Will an outside factor such as news of Luffy’s breakout or the arrival of Big Mom’s crew interrupt things? Or will we just cut away and come back to this later (that’s my bet)?

So yeah, great chapter, rough time for a magazine break, but I expect the next one to be a volume and perhaps an act finisher, so things can only get bigger and better.

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

Chiffon wanting to find Lola is a pretty logical for her as a character, but Lola was last seen heading the opposite way down the Grand Line, right? Going past Water Seven? So yeah, I don’t think that’s going to work out and the real plot of this cover story will jump us in the coming weeks (and then immediately be interrupted by another Stampede colour spread for the movie’s release).

Kid rebuilding his arm is one of my favourite panels of recent weeks from a purely artistic standpoint. There’s so much goddamn detail I love it.

The Momo spread sets the stage for the young man taking the throne at the end of the arc pretty well, but to be honest King Riku got the same panel 20 volumes ago and I liked his version better. It’s a little disappointing that after all the teasing Kawamatsu can’t stick around any longer. I hope he transitions into Zoro’s plot thread quickly.

The flashback sequence was a good and incredibly necessary one. It’s realistic to show the weight of the last 20 years bearing down on the country, and how some absolutely would lose faith because of that. I think it puts the end of Zou into perspective as well: after 20 years of that kind of pressure and uncertainty, when proof that the prophecy would come true did appear its no wonder they were willing to hold to the last man to defend it.

The official explanation for Sunachi is surprisingly clever. I doubt it actually lines up with the Japanese version the same way, but it’s great that it could be made to run so smoothly in English.

I’m looking forward to the lines about why it took 20 years to be used as theory fodder. We’re being set up to believe Toki specifically chose this time period for a reason. Could she see the future? Or does she know something about a weakness of kaido or Orochi that only comes up however many years?

I think I saw some people upset Zoro got to take out so many ninjas all by his lonesome. Well, that’s what they get for jumping him together like that. This is Japanese territory – the Inverse Ninja Law is in full effect!

Aaand Law is the captive. Right when everyone was expecting it to be a weaker Straw Hat, Oda was like “ha, you think I’d give Law a break from his suffering?”

My current pet theory about Drake acting strange is that the camouflage tech in Sanji’s raid suit is also capable of illusions and he’s used that to go undercover as Drake. Doing that Mr Prince thing for the first time in a long time.

Fun chapter overall, hard to say what could be focussed on next week with so many different subplots thrown up in the air on it. I’m hoping for more Law though.

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

I was surprised to see another Udon chapter at first, but it all made sense by the end. It’s felt a little slow week by week, but I think the volume reread will show this was just the right place to end it. Wano has emphasised the need to recruit help from the locals and make the people a part of their own rebellion, and it wouldn’t have been right to let Luffy’s prison break end without putting that factor in the limelight.

But first, that colour spread is a gorgeous piece of work as always. Chopper without his hat is a mildly cursed image, but Zoro holding the ring and “chopper on board” more than make up for it.

I’m glad the final chapter title isn’t “zombie” like the first spoilers suggested, given that it was already chapter 84. And prettymuch chapter 445. We don’t need another zombie chapter title. That said, what’s the connection between mummification and infections for Japan? The pokemon ability Mummy also works that way, so this clearly isn’t just an Oda creation, but none of the western lore/mythology around mummies that I know works the same way.

Luffy’s big speech is a fantastic character moment that plays well into his growing maturity over the course of the New World. He’s really showing that legendary “king’s disposition” here, and I think it’s worth noting that he’s doing it intentionally and knowingly. This isn’t just a case of ‘Luffy rushes in and people follow him because he’s bold and charismatic but he doesn’t care if they follow or not because he’s doing the thing either way,’ it’s Luffy very genuinely taking a stand against the prisoners’ lifestyle and choosing to bring them to his side. It’s also an interesting point of comparison to his “I’m not a hero” speech from Fishman Island. Luffy’s morality is still framed as relative (ie he’s doing the right thing by his personal friend Tama, not he’s doing the right thing because it’s the right thing) but he’s taken a personal stake in the lives of the prisoners in a way he hadn’t quite done before.

The end of Babanuki was hilariously unexpected. I don’t think he’s actually dead; he’ll crawl away and show up with his head and the elephant’s wrapped in bandages later, but it’s a great note to end his role here on. “Whut” was also a great translation choice for that one panel. Gets the tone juuust right.

And while we’re here, the Boichi cover chapter was pretty sweet. That dude has a great talent for texture work and fun expressions. The nitpick I have with his work, both here and in what I read of Dr Stone, it that his panels often run off every edge of the page, even into the spine. I’m of a mind that that shouldn’t be happening unless it’s specifically a spread page. It’s the kind of thing that has no impact when you read one page at a time online, but isn’t great in a physical book or in official readers that show spreads. But also it hardly ruins the experience, and Boichi’s particular brand of exaggeration is a great fit for a One Piece chapter. Can’t wait to see who else they get on board for this project!

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

A little bit of a slow chapter, mostly building up to the “pose as a team” shot at the end rather than taking any huge strides forward, but it was a lot of fun regardless. I was sure we’d cut away from the prison this week, but what the hell do I know?

The use of the other prisoners here is interesting. It emphasises the point Oda’s made before about Luffy not necessarily being a hero. He’s come into Wano and he’s starting shit all for his own agenda, not caring at all about whether the locals want their lives to be catapulted from “kinda unpleasant” to “certain death fighting unfathomable odds.” For better or worse, the people around Luffy tend to get dragged into what he’s doing. Also I like that what is essentially just a mob of anonymous nobodies are given something of a collective personality/will to share rather than just being set dressing. The people of Dressrosa were also their own grouped character, but their characterisation was more frustrating than anything for most of that arc.

Kawamatsu is finally here, and I’m not disappointed one bit. Surprised, maybe, that he’s an actual kappa rather than an aquatic mink species that could be mistaken for one (otter or platypus would have been great), but I’m interested to see how kappas fit into the series’ racial lore. (And was it just me, or did the panel where he’s preparing the fishbones in his mouth before the reveal make them look like whiskers, perhaps as one last tease for mink theories?) The gag where he unleashes 13 years of vomit on his captors was great as well.

And then we get to that great group shot and the big talking point of the chapter. Kiku. Christ, that’s brought out some toxicity. Our spoiler threat here didn’t look great, but the One Piece reddit (and its mods’ response) are a hot garbage fire. Like, just awful. I was happy to see the number of the people in the comments here actually talking back against all the ignorant shit the trolls were spouting The majority of y’all are good types.

An interesting part of that debate, now that the official translation is out, is that the “yes” in Kiku’s response to being asked if she was a man is something entirely added by the scanlators. In the raws and in the official translation she goes straight to “I’m a woman at heart,” without any tacit acknowledgement of prying gender questions, which is extremely telling of how Oda intended for us to read her. Can’t discuss that on Reddit though, because the mods want to treat it like a “lets hear both sides” kind of thing despite the objective right and wrong of the issue. At least this new info has her wiki page changed to neutral pronouns after being locked with male ones a couple days ago. It is infuriating to me that every inch of queer representation and every respectful concession has to be fought for. Frustrating beyond reason that the people controlling the discussion on such important fan resources as the wiki and the reddit are choosing to take a step back and act like the trolls and advocates are somehow equal, and refusing to take a hand in guiding fans who are less educated in LGBTect issues down the right path.

I’ve been trying to keep my contributions to the official release threads instead of the scan ones lately, so I’ve been holding that in over the weekend.

The most common stance I see on Oda’s queer representation is that he doesn’t do particularly well, but to be honest I think the man is due more credit than he gets. In the context of Japan’s more conservative society and queer representation in the shonen genre, I think he comes out ahead of the pack. Thinking on other shonens I’ve read, the characters who would canonically fall under the queer umbrella (as understood from my very western perspective) are few and far between, and it’s generally one, if you’re really lucky two, per series. Counting something like a dozen named okama, Luffy’s asexuality and now Kiku, not to mention ambiguous characters who crossdress but don’t specifically follow the okama’s genderfluid ideology, like Izo, Oda comes out far ahead in the numbers game. He does fall into some traps with depiction: a lot of the one-note minor okama fall into a gross “predatory gay” stereotype (and have names like Splash and Splatter, ugh) and characters like Sanji and Daz being upset by them is played off as funny instead of gross. It would be wrong to discuss queer representation in One Piece without at least acknowledging those issues. But compare and contrast something like One Punch Man, and its Puri Puri Prisoner. He falls into all the same traps, but its worse there because he’s the only canonically queer character the series has. He’s all ONE has to say about the queer community. One Piece gives us a number of queer characters, many of them bombastic and exaggerated, as is the style of the series, but they do show a few varying perspectives on what it means to be queer, especially with the introduction of Kiku as a more subdued take. These characters have roles beyond being a token character or a joke in the wider lore, and most of them are unambiguously heroic to boot. Aligning most of the okama with the Revolutionary Army in opposition to the fascist, authoritarian World Government strikes me as incredibly fitting, whether it was intended to read that way or not. There’s also, and this is a subjective impression so your mileage may vary, the way Oda’s queer characters don’t scan as being any way malicious. The man clearly has a liking for Japan’s drag scene and wants to work that into his art. I don’t feel like I’m being invited to laugh at these characters just for being queer. They’re funny, certainly, but they’re funny because they’re all such large, colourful personalities, same as basically everyone else in the cast. Characters like the aforementioned Puri Puri Prisoner, I certainly don’t get the same vibe from. We laugh at him in what feels like a meaner way.

In conclusion, Oda’s handling of queer characters is far from perfect, but he’s included more of them than basically anyone else writing for his demographic and despite the issues his writing has, it scans as sincere and non-malicious, and I think credit needs to be given for that, as well as acknowledging the flaws.

(other good shonen queer representation that comes immediately to mind include Hero Academia’s Magne and Tiger, D.Gray Man’s Kanda and Soul Eater’s Crona, for anyone curious)

I got a little ranty in a couple of spots there, but these things felt important to air. Thanks to anyone who made it through the whole thing.

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

I gotta say, I really love stories that reach this point we’re currently at, where there’s so many balls in the air the story becomes impossible to predict just by virtue of there being so many different characters and factions that could step into the action. (Not to mention wildcard factors like Big Mom’s memory returning!) I was strapping in for at least a full chapter of Luffy and Big Mom, but instead the prison guards rally and interrupt and cart her off to see Kaido. A meeting between those two was something I think everyone was anticipating, but I don’t think anyone saw factors colliding to set it up so suddenly.

Luffy also doesn’t seem to have fully conquered his fear of Big Mom yet, though its hard to tell if he’s actually trying to get away or just dodging because he knows now he’s not ready to stand up to a direct hit. What could the implications of this be if she comes back with Soul Pocus?

I liked the new haki lore. The new technique of using it of channeling it into something or someone else to destroy rather than protect is, as others have noted, strikingly similar to Lucci’s Six King Pistol, which supports my headcanon that CP9 were all using at least a little haki when they fought the Strawhats. I’d love to see the Six Powers confirmed as at the very least as gateway training for haki. I know the Vivre Card databook specifies that the Cipher Pol guys learned during the timeskip but like, c’mooon. It makes too much sense. Also, if destructive haki can be imbued into another person, does that mean protective haki could be as well? Could Luffy put his arms around the crew and protect them all with his own haki? Could be the start of some really interesting combo techniques between the haki using and non-haki using members of the crew.

Grandpa Hyo seemingly dying then jumping away from the next attack is one my favourite gags in a while, and his neck stretching as Luffy pulls him out of the wall on the previous page is pretty great as well.

Y’all mark my words, the dude in the iron-works who reacts to the guards talking about the Smail disappearing is gonna be important. One of the old Yakuza bosses maybe? I think he’ll be the face of the prisoners after Luffy rallies them into an army.

Queen is back on his feet rather quickly, and it’s something I like seeing in contrast to this idea so much of the fanbase (especially over on Reddit) seems to have about how wins and losses are absolute and quantifiable and a measure of a character’s worth. These days its rare for a fight to turn into an all-out slugfest that leaves at least one person totally unable to stand at the end of it. The story has become too complex, with too many factors, different objectives and logistical concerns, and the combatants too strong, for that to happen often. We get smaller clashes that buy ground in a larger set piece or where one fighter gets knocked down just long enough for the other to move on with their own objective. It makes sense; there’s a lot more at stake now than giving an absolute beatdown to one guy for the sake of pride. It plays into the understanding that One Piece has adopted the heart and soul of a high fantasy epic within its shonen exterior – the macro-level conflict has come to the forefront, and it’s the war that’s important more than the battles. Maybe we could have spent a whole chapter or two on Big Mom and Queen fighting to establish completely where the strength difference is to 0.5 of a standard powerlevel and count off on our fingers how many attacks it takes for Queen to stay down permanently, but that kind of thing just isn’t really important anymore to the kind of story One Piece has become.

What’s with the bit with Momo and Tama and the gate closing? Am I reading it right that they decided to go in before they were sealed out?

I’m sure there’s embittered comments somewhere about Queen’s negligence taking so many of his top guys to transport Big Mom before Luffy was dealt with (love that his boars all wear the same goggles though) but I think it makes sense from his perspective. Even with how far Luffy’s come, Big Mom is by far the worse threat, and it would be a far, far worse choice to take any chances whatsoever with her captivity. Also, his use of seastone begs the question of why Tottoland doesn’t keep some on hand to at least slow her during hunger pang attacks. Is it because they don’t think they could approach with it without having their souls taken?

Final pace is a classic Luffy moment. I love it. The talk of Udon being his echoes earlier talk that the whole area was cut off from the rest of Wano. I’d thought that meant just the prison though. Is there nothing else in this province except the mines? Regardless, Luffy’s right that things won’t be quite as exciting without Big Mom or Queen to fight, so I’d say it’s pretty likely we’ll be cutting away, either to the capitol or to Big Mom’s arrival at Onigashima, next week, with the bulk of Luffy’s prison revolution being offscreen.

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

Man, volume 94 is going to be nonstop action, isn’t it? I imagine it’ll be remembered as one of the best if it keeps up this kind of pacing.

With the last chapter, I was wondering how Oda would untangle the knot of characters and situations set up for the prison, but it turns out he plan was to just cut the knot, with Big Mom as the knife. Seeing Queen be swung around by his dinosaur neck was incredible.

I think the most interesting thing this week is the conclusion of a subtle little character arc for Luffy. Every since the escape from Whole Cake Chateau (specifically the point in the battle where she shrugged off a Gear Four attack), Luffy’s been acting a way we’re really not used to for him. He’s legitimately frightened of Big Mom. He doesn’t want to fight her, despite everything he said about “not leaving foes for later” when he fought Fujitora at Dressrosa. I think the last time Luffy was properly scared of an enemy like this was during the Marineford saga, either for Ace’s life or for his crew’s, when Kuma came after them. No other enemy has had him flip so suddenly into retreat mode, even the ones like Crocodile who beat him several times before he conquered them. Whether he developed this instinct because of the ease with which she deflected his attacks, the lives of his allies needed to escape her or the sheer amount of firepower she mustered against the crew, Big Mom has done one thing few other villains could: she changed Luffy’s behaviour.

Character development, both positive and negative, tends to be understated and slow-burning in One Piece, but it’s certainly not nonexistent. Let’s talk about Luffy’s character arcs in the New World. The first one, I think, starts on Fishman Island when he promises to “protect everything.” This isn’t something Luffy needs to grow from, necessarily, but it’s an assertion that needs to be challenged and then tempered to be more realistic. This happens on Dressrosa, and I wish it had been brought more to the forefront that it was happening. As it’s been written it’s more of a vague, slow, background development, and a personal through-line for the protagonist could really have unified Dressrosa’s generally chaotic lack of focus. Essentially, Doflamingo, manipulator, physical and mental puppetmaster, has the perfect toolset to make protecting everyone and everything impossible. There’s no keeping the Birdcage from destroying Dressrosa (though thanks to the teamwork of Luffy’s allies its people are saved), Law was nearly outright murdered with no way for Luffy to intervene, and Bellamy, well Luffy had to put Bellamy down himself, even though they’d become friends just hours before. Protecting everything was really thrown out the window there, and I wish we’d been shown more of the turmoil Luffy felt over that instead of just the broad “you hurt my friends, Mingo!!” rage we got. Regardless, Luffy grows from this experience and demonstrates a more realistic kind of resolve through the Tottoland Saga, accepting the sacrifices of Pedro, Pekoms and Jinbe instead of throwing everything away to not leave a man behind. He’s far more willing to go for the better net result instead of making it all or nothing, which is a sharp contrast to his attitude at the start of the New World.

The second arc, as established, begins with the Fujitora fight, and is, as with the last one, challenged in the very next major saga. Luffy comes up against a foe he can’t defeat now, in the most literal way possible, and is forced to retreat. I don’t think he’s truly compromised on his decision not to back down from foes perceived to be above his level just yet, as he flung himself right at Kaido and is training to do the same thing again. I think he sees Big Mom as a lone exception to his declaration. We can see from the way Luffy reacts to her storming into the prison he’s strongly associated her with the desperation and losses of Tottoland and still sees her as something totally unbeatable, that can only be run away from, even though he’s just been training to face her apparent equal, Kaido.

And here, at the end of this current chapter, Hyo gives Luffy the push he needs to get back on track and face her, despite the pain she’s caused. Luffy’s expressions on the last page of the chapter are fantastic though and through, as he goes from retreat mode, to fighting down those instincts, to that perfect mix of determination and concern in the last panel when he fully commits to the fight. We’ve talked about great facial acting in Wano already, but it’s not at all limited to the locals showing laughter and sadness at once. This is going to be a milestone fight for Luffy, however it plays out, and I cannot wait to see what happens.

(not really sure how advanced haki is meant to have gotten the collars off any more than raw strength or regular haki could have though; kinda hoping we get a proper explanation next week, as nice as the Rayleigh callback was)