Category: One Piece

Here comes Jack!

Holdem’s down for the count and Jack knows. Oopsie! Safe to say Team Luffy Alliance is busted. But, at least they stole the treasure barge so the regular citizens can eat. Wow! That panel with the family about to commit suicide rather than starve was dark. Nice touch Oda. It wasn’t dwelled upon, he just showed how bad things got. Solid storytelling.

Speed’s a joke character. I can live with that. She wasn’t built up to be anything more than that. I still think Hawkins is playing the long game. There’s more going on with him than we’ve seen.

Holdem got a beatdown. The End.

I mean, yeah. We all knew it was coming sooner than later. He didn’t exactly look like a tough opponent. But, now we know Jack the Drought is the true ruler of Bakura Town and we may be seeing signs of a future fight between him a Luffy. He’d make a great mid-boss before Kaido.

We learn the wanted thief, Shutemaru, is the leader of a group called the Atamayama Thieves Brigade. Want to bet at least one Strawhat is already apart of it. I’d say Chopper and/or Brook since it’d be hard for them to blend into Wano as a regular citizen.

Let’s get the good out the way.

Luffy going Gear 3rd on Urashima. Beautiful! And Holdem and Luffy finally meet. And, there we go, that’s how Holdem’s going to be a threat: By holdem-ing Otama hostage. Hope that fight won’t last too long.

Welcome to Bakura Town! The Pasadena of Wano!

A plot inching chapter. Mostly getting characters where they need to be in order for big events to happen. Before that, Bellamy’s a master dyer now? That came out of nowhere. Not sure whether Oda will make it stick or not. Depends on whether we continue his cover story. Doesn’t matter, I can always see him helping out in the world war at the series’ end, even if it’s only a few panels of him defending his dyer friends from whoever.

Can’t a couple of undercover pirates and starving citizens get a little piece around here?

Guess not.                                                                                                                          Kaidou’s forces have their eyes on Otama and her ability to tame wild animals. Why? Who cares if she can do that? Unless there’s an animal some evil owner wants to be tamed. Doubtful anyone from Team Kaidou owns an out of control pet. That leaves a Wano government official. Maybe Shogun Orochi himself!

A 19% chance of success? Place your bets now, ladies & gentlemen.

Yeah, yeah, the 19% is just the usual fight build-up, but the month part has me intrigued. I take that as the Straw Hats leaving Wano in about a month in-world time. Now, Luffy’s fight with Cracker took three days, I think. And, his fight against Katakuri took several hours. What am I trying to say? Well, I think Luffy’s getting two big fights.

Luffy ain’t doing nothing with that sword except slicing the air and trying to imitate Zoro.

Zoro smiled, everyone! Take a shot!
That’s right, the Straw Hat captain and first mate are back together and ready to ruin Kin’emon’s plan. You know the rules: Where Luffy goes, trouble follows. And where Luffy and Zoro goes, explosions follow. I’m guessing Kaido will discover the Straw Hats are on Wano within the next five chapters, whether or not Hawkings betrays him.

Seeing Luffy stretchy backhand that baddie was such a casual, yet awesome use of his powers.

With the entire (sans Jinbe) Straw Hat Crew there and various allies coming, Oda did the smart thing and started us off with only Luffy. I love Luffy’s treatment of animals, you don’t mess with him and he won’t mess with you. We meet the mini-Vivi Clone, Otama and learn she’s waiting for Ace. Ruh-oh! Isn’t that just like a pirate to go out for cigarettes and never come back! Well, whatever Ace had going on with Otama you can bet Luffy’s picking up where he left off.

I get the feeling the Wano arc will be so Japanese I’ll be speaking in Nagoya dialect by the tenth chapter.

Goodbye Reverie! You were fun, but Oda ain’t slowin’ down for no one, whether you Wano or not. We catch up with Luffy’s team wearing their Wano arc clothes, touching on the Reverie. We also get a title introduction for Straw Hat Luffy (not Monkey D. Luffy) because… I don’t know. Is Oda reminding us Luffy is a tough mofo before all heck breaks loose or is there an even deeper meaning?

Where’s the Revolutionaries’ declaration? What’s will happen to Bonney? Is Vivi Im’s takedown confirmation? What about Fujitora’s anti Warlord panel in Hall H? Oh, so we’re doing that, Oda? You set up the plots and now you’re letting it simmer. Everything I mentioned can be shown at a later date, or specifically, it’s effects and consequences. Why have Im tell us when we’ll instead see soldiers gunning for Vivi? Why see what Bonney’s going to do when we can see her allying with the Revolutionaries later (Yep, I think that’s where Bonney’s character is going.).