Drowning In Friendship [One Piece 944]

What a revelation! Captain Kid’s crewmate, Killer, is Hitokiri Kamazo! That explains a lot. Actually, it only explains where Killer’s been all this time. But, hey, it’s a start.

So, what happened to the rest of Captain Kid’s crew? How did Killer become Orochi’s assassin? And, what’s with his constant laughing? Well, that last question is easy. Killer failed to kill Toko and lost a fight. Safe to say Orochi fed him bad smile fruit before sending him to the labor camp. Who knows if we’ll ever see Kid’s other crew again, they weren’t exactly prominent characters. As for why Killer became Orochi’s assassin, I’d say it was to keep Kid alive, or, at least that’s what Orochi told him. By the way, huge points for Kid for caring about his crew.

I’m all over the place when it comes to the order of events, but I want to talk about Queen and Big Mom right now. For the first time, I think we saw a glimpse of a genuinely pissed off Queen. He blocked Luffy’s punch like it was nothing and was ready to kill all four prisoners then and there. I love the development we’ve gotten with Queen. He’s by far the most interesting Animal Kingdom/Beast Pirate. And, yeah, that includes X-Drake.

But, here comes Big Mom and she’s bringing a huge appetite with here as well as a question. Namely, will Queen be defeated by Big Mom? Sure, Luffy may get a punch or two in, but will Big Mom herself deliver the final blow? I’d say yes. No point in seeing her fight small fish, and let’s face it Y’all, besides Queen, every single Animal Kingdom pirate in that labor camp is walking fodder. So, yeah, Queen is going down, but it’ll be the combined effort of several characters, not just Big Mom.

One more thing surprised me this chapter, Kyoshiro. Seriously, the guy blocked Zoro’s attacks. No wait, he blocked an angry Zoro’s attacks. That’s a huge deal! Kyoshiro is easily one of the strongest samurai we’ve seen so far, but I still think he’s plotting against Orochi. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, as the hipsters say.

Great chapter. Great run of chapters we’ve had recently. Most of the Straw Hat crew is back together, most of Oden’s allies have something to rally over now (Tonoyasu’s death), and plot points are converging. (Big Mom and the labor camp.) I’m guessing we’re smack dab in the final chapters of Wano’s Act Two. Once Luffy escapes and we have Tonoyasu’s funeral, it’ll end and we’ll focus on Oden’s flashback. We’ve seen all the important Wano characters except Denjiro. The way the plot is moving I won’t be surprised to see him right before Act Two ends. Or, maybe he’ll show up during the climax and take down Kaido. No, that would be silly. He and Luffy will take down Kaido together, duh!