Maybe It’s The Legs [One Piece 961]

Is that why everyone in Wano’s gaga for Oden? I’ll admit they are pretty hot.

Kozuki Oden. I still can’t tell if he’s a joke character or not. Is it a Japanese thing? Is it a male stereotype thing? I don’t want to harp on it but Oda tends to lean on gender stereotypes more often than not. Women are super skinny, super sexy, and all about love. Yet, we have Nami and Robin who fill the first two requirements but not the third. Then we have men who are super buff and super tough like Kaido or Zoro, but we have Luffy who’s more on the lean side. And Usopp was a skinny dude before the time skip. What I’m trying to say is what the heck is up with Oden?

I can’t take him seriously. Everyone in the chapter is harping on how manly he is and women are fawning over his words and body. But, after seeing all the craziness in One Piece, the wacky devil fruit powers, the insane feats of strength delivered by the Straw Hat crew and their allies and enemies, Oden isn’t all that special. Yeah, he’s really strong but his I don’t care personality isn’t anything to write home about. Maybe it is a cultural thing. Or, maybe Oda is rushing through the arc. Or, both.

Anyway, the giant Mountain God Boar is tearing up the Flower Capital looking for it’s stolen baby. Oden defeats it with a two-sword style attack and everyone who was swallowed whole, including Tsuru, is saved. Oden takes all the blame for the mess just when he gets the letter from the last chapter saying he’s been disowned.

You know what? I’m gonna stop there. Why do a beat by beat chapter summary when I don’t care enough about the chapter? Here’s the important stuff. Kin’emon and Denjiro become Oden’s first followers and, in Hakumai, we’re introduced to Flashback Lord Yasuie and his manservant…Orochi!

Now, things are getting interesting, y’all. Looking forward to seeing how Orochi went from servant to Shogun and how Oden’s other followers joined him. As for Oden himself, I don’t care.

A somewhat decent chapter, I guess. I’m done with Oden at this point. I just want to see how everything went in the crapper, how Oden died, how Orochi rose to power and Toki and her time travel devil fruit (Toki alone may reveal some shocking revelations about the history of the One Piece world!).

I REALLY want to know if Oden is supposed to be a joke character. It’s driving me insane! Is Oda that confident he’s depicting the character as a badass? I’m so confused, y’all. I need to relax. I wonder if Oda will give some of that stuff he’s smoking. It must be good.