Mammoth Base Opera Castle

I’m getting Enis Lobby flashbacks.

Not of the Enis Lobby arc itself, but of that massive hole in the sea the arc took place over. I seriously doubt that’s a coincidence. In fact, seeing the same type of hole at what used to be Lulusia Kingdom confirms in my mind the weapon used to destroy poor Lulusia was indeed Uranus! So, if the World Government gets their naughty hands on more Mother Flame, it’s game over. How lucky for the Celestial Dragons that Sacred Marijoa is located on top of the Red Line. They can destroy as many islands as they want and not worry about their lands flooding. Yeah… I don’t think that’s a coincidence either.

St. Saturn. It’s easy believing he’s at Egghead simply to regain control of the Seraphim but what if he’s got another purpose. He’s the Godhead of Science and Defense, after all. If he gets access to the lab Mother Flame is created, he could figure out how to make the (assumed) power source himself. Again, that’s a game over for Team Everyone But The World Government. Either way, from a story perspective, the Five Elders will probably gain access to the Mother Flame, putting the series into a classic save-the-world scenario for Team Everyone Else.

Oda’s bound to show us what happened on Egghead leading us to York The Greedy’s capture. There’s a lot we need to know. For example, where’s Jewelry Bonney’s head at? I’m assuming she knows Kuma’s backstory by now. What did she learn? Everything? Including Kuma’s special body that Blackbeard probably has?

Get you hand off my friends!

Nice going, Captain Koby! You helped save your allies. Well, all except for Vice Admiral Garp. Similar to the Worst Generation is for pirates, Oda is moving the younger members of the Navy to the forefront. They, like Egghead Island panties, are the future.

So, what does that mean for Garp? Whether he survives or not, Garp is part of the old guard and up for elimination or retirement. For now, I think Garp is alive. Remember several chapters back when Blackbeard wanted to use Captain Koby’s status to gain official recognition as the king of Fullalead? There’s gotta be a reason for that more than just going to VIP coke parties. You know Blackbeard. Ever step he takes is to further his overall goals. Becoming a king must give him access to information or an opportunity to move him toward the One Piece.

Captain Koby, you dumb mother—

It’s you fault Vice Admiral Garp’s gonna die! Wait? Will he die? Sure, Garp’s death will help solidify the Blackbeard Pirates as a genuine world threat but that can happen just from Garp losing. And it won’t even be Blackbeard himself doing the deed, but Kuzan killing Garp would be impactful too. In any case, Oda’s got to take Garp off the fighting board and this battle will do it.

Decades after their visual introductions, we have the Five Elders’ names.

Was it worth the wait? Heck no! But I guess Oda wanted to keep their celestial names a secret—Wait! The Five Elders are Celestial Dragons and planets are a type of celestial body. …That took longer to connect than I care to admit.

Another connection that may seem obvious that I wasn’t sure about until now are the Five Elders being Celestial Dragons. Can you blame me? The only other CDs we’d seen were immoral bubble helmet elitists who thought the entire world revolved around them. Sure, the Five Elders are dicks but not on that superficial level (that we’ve seen so far). And after meeting St. Figarland Garling this chapter, I’ve come to the conclusion that their are basically two types of Celestial Dragons: Those who put in the effort and those who don’t.

I doubt the original 20 kings who made up the OG Celestial Dragons were weak nor stupid. But over the centuries my guess is most of them just wanna have fun. Those types of CDs don’t care about anything but their own self-amusement, usually at others’ expense (Rosward’s Family, for example). Then we have the CDs who put in the work. The ones with ambition. The ones who want to do more with their life than torture slaves and eat bon-bons on the couch all day. They are the Garlings, Imu, and Elder Stars of the group. So, yeah, this chapter really hit home for me that the Celestial Dragons control the world and aren’t simply mooching off it.