Category: One Piece

I’m trying, Oda. I’m trying to like this arc, but I’m mostly going through the motions.

It’s not like I hate this arc. But, I don’t love it either. I’m more in love with parts of it and the idea of a Wano Arc. Is it the pacing? The Wano introduced characters? Um, maybe? I mean, the arc’s moving at a regular pace. Stuff’s happening. Unfortunately, I’m not interested enough in a lot of it. Again, I don’t hate it, I’m just kinda riding along.

Hm, Wano introduced characters? Who do I love? Well, there’s…erm…um…no one. Not one single Wano native character has caught my interest. I don’t hate them, Y’all! I just don’t love them. Keep in mind, I’m not talking about antagonistic characters. Queen is a delight and…well…maybe one of the Yakuza bosses will rub off on me. Oh, boy, I don’t like where this is going.

I can imagine Oda with a notebook checking off things he had to show to keep the plot moving while drawing this chapter, making sure he hits all the beats so his audience doesn’t get confused later.

There’s a lot of small stuff happening this chapter. The first being the Firetank Pirates going off to find Chiffon’s twin sister, Lola. That’s should be fun. Can we focus on that instead? No? Okay, moving on.

We find out Luffy offered Kid a chance to join his alliance but Kid isn’t having it. He tried that once and ended up worse for it. I wonder if we’ll ever get a flash black about what immediately happened after Kaido met Kid, Hawkins, and Apoo. Anyway, Kid and Killer leave to find the rest of their crew. Looks like if Kid’s gonna fight Kaido, he’s doing it his way.

While Team Luffy tries convincing the recently freed prisoners teaming up a pirate to beat another pirate makes sense, Kawamatsu decides to leave. He’s got business somewhere else. Maybe he has to go to the bathroom. See? That’s why he wasn’t covered in his own feces and piss being locked in that prison for years. He’s been holding it in. Hey! If Portgas D. Rouge can stay pregnant threw sheer willpower, why not this?

♫That boy was poisoned.♫

We continue right where we left off last chapter. Team Luffy, smack dab in Udon’s prison camp, fighting the guards and broken spirit prisoners. Man, those plague round bullets are making a ton of people sick. Good thing we have a reindeer doctor on the premises.

So, it’s fighty fight-fight time. Everyone’s fighting. None of it’s interesting except for the Luffy/Chopper combo attack. Well, no. Those electric shrunken Raizo’s throwing out was cool too. Speaking of Raizo, he dropped the prison keys near Kid to free himself and Killer, but Kid’s obviously thinking about something. Maybe he’s thinking about joining the Alliance. I’m sure he wants to see Kaido taken down as much as them.

More prisoners get shot, spreading the virus called Mummy. A nasty disease that causes pain and makes you bleed, both on the outside and when you pee. Queen, you monster!

Eiichiro Oda. You were on a roll, but after reading One Piece for well over a decade, I’ve come to expect certain things in this series I don’t necessarily agree with. Doesn’t mean I hate One Piece or anything. I’m just the type of person who doesn’t have to love every tidbit of something to enjoy it. But, for now, let’s talk about the positive.

The Fire Tank Pirates are back, Y’all! They’re getting a cover story adventure, I think. It might only be a one or two-page thing we’ve seen in the past like with the Strawhat Alliance.

Luffy’s still working on perfecting his haki by using Kaido’s crew as punching bags. The Warden orders the guards to capture him and they comply because they’ve lost all hope. As expected, most of them are people who tried fighting Kaido and Orochi and failed. They need to be inspired and Team Luffy’s just the group to give it to them.

We’re introduced to a new type of weapon, Plague Rounds. Guns that contain diseases. Imma let that sink in…

Still with me? It’s a gun that shoots a disease at you. I don’t know what to say. Seriously. One Piece has no shortage of dumb stuff (A fake island in a whale, flying to the moon on a balloon, devil fruits, The Gates of Justice, magical healing bandages, etc.), but I’m still at a loss. Say what you will about Oda, at least he keeps you guessing. It kinda reminds me of the quirk erasing bullets in My Hero Academia, but instead of causing a disease it cures it (If you think of having a quirk the same a having a disease).

How do you stop one of the strongest pirates in the world? Easy, you bait her with food then drop an anvil, or whatever heavy object you have, on her head. Hey, if it’s good enough for Wile E. Coyote, it’s good enough for Queen.

We get a flashback referencing the first time Luffy saw the advanced haki technique he’s trying to master. Hyo explains it as penetrating the enemy’s interior, destroying them from the inside. Basically, haki mastery is as overpowered as having a powerful devil fruit and that’s why “normal” humans can fight them. Good ‘ole Oda creating BS haki to counter BS devil fruit users. We all caught up? Good.

Luffy’s plan to master the destructive technique fails as Big Mom tries turning him into a pancake. I really thought Luffy would figure it out, but alas, it’s not to be, yet. My question is how will Luffy figure it out? Will Jack show up and become Luffy’s punching bag? Or, will his training fall on Kawamatsu or one of Wano’s Underworld Bosses? Hm.

I haven’t seen an old lady beat a guy down this bad since Grandma Redgreek found out my uncle ate all her Pop-Tarts.

Here it is, Y’all. The fight of the century. Big Mom VS Quee— And, it’s over. That didn’t last long. But, good news to all you Queen fans out there. At least the guy wasn’t knocked out.

Kawamatsu’s cage is broken, so he may already be out if he freed himself from those chains. If not, Raizo and Crazy Eyes Caribou are on the job. Interesting how Wano den den mushi work, the drawback to having such small snails is the need for a boss snail to get messages out over a large area. Looks like Kaidou won’t be learning of Big Mom’s arrival for a bit longer.

Captain Kid and Killer aren’t dead. …Okay. Thanks for telling us, chapter.

Hm? According to Mr. Wiki (and you can always trust that *couchcough*), Oshiruko is basically, azuki beans, sugar, and mochi. Sounds extremely unhealthy. I wanna try it!

Zoro is still having trouble against Kyoshiro. Geez, how tough is that guy? Thank goodness Kyoshiro is probably working against Orochi or Zoro might have to fight a really strong swordsman in Wano again. And, who wants that, right? Come on, Oda, give Zoro another sword battle.

Hawkins is proving to be the smartest member of the Animal Kingdom/Beast Pirates, hiding Bepo out of sight and doing his Big Bad Voodoo Daddy dolls curse thingy on Law’s crew. Bravo, Hawkins! He also told the Oniwabanshu about the Straw Hat crew, good job! Wait, wasn’t my theory that Hawkins was secretly working against Kaido? Well, guess what? I still think that, Y’all! In fact, I’ll go so far to say all three big villains fighting the Straw Hat Alliance in the Flower Capital are secretly working against Kaido. Yep, I’m talking Kyoshiro, Hawkins, and X Drake. I’m betting those three have their own alliance for whatever reasons. It’s a bit of a long shot for Drake, but there’s a reason why he and Hawkins are part of the Worst Generation. And, it’s not because they work for Kaido.

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.

Orochi is an asshole.

That’s pretty much the chapter. Oh, and we learn why smile fruits are inferior to the regular kind, well, besides the weird human/beast fusions. Hmm, why isn’t Momonosuke a dragon/human hybrid? He ate a smile fruit. Something fishy’s going on here. Anyway, we learn there’s a 10% chance of gaining power after biting into a smile fruit. Yikes! I don’t like those odds. Cesear Clown, you suck. But, I do wonder if normal devil fruits are manmade too. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s true.

Anyone else noticed the shadowy guy with a tail among Oden’s kid vessels? Denjiro, maybe? Or, could it be the kid with the scar? Who is that? Shinobu doesn’t have a scar, but I can’t think of anyone else it could be. Double Hmm…