Mammoth Base Opera Castle

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.

Oda sure spent a long time building up Kozuki Oden. It wasn’t worth it.

What the hell is Oden? Seriously. I can’t tell if he’s a joke character or not. That exposition dump at the beginning of the chapter sure didn’t help. Why is a vessel of Kozuki Sukiyaki, he’s Oden’s daddy, getting a report on his own son’s life? Most of the stuff mentioned seems to be public knowledge. Nope. Didn’t like that at all. It was a lazy way to convey information to the audience. Maybe Oda’s trying to rush to the good part by doing that, but whether or not that’s true, it really annoyed me.

I not even gonna list all the stuff Oden’s done. Basically, he’s an uber strong badass whose also well-meaning but no one understands him. Translation: He’s an asshole but we’re supposed to like him. And, what’s with the kidnapping of women to put in a harem resulting in a war where people died? What the what? Of course, Oda added a line saying the women were free to go at any time, trying to smooth over that rocky road. It’s…it’s like Oda poured everything he thinks a man should be into this character in an attempt to make the ultimate badass but instead creating a Japanese Gaston.

Seems like we got an update on everyone except him this chapter. He can’t be the traitor, right? That’d be too deep for One Piece. The traitor has to be someone we don’t give a crap about or a female because, according to Oda, women are backstabbers who all have tragic backstories so they can be forgiven. Woah! Where did that Oda rant come from? I need to start meditating again.

We turn the clock two days back and work our way up to the present this chapter, in the process learning more how Kin’emon’s plan went to shit. It was traitor, basically. Whoever that person is tipped off Orochi who blew up all the bridges leading to Itachi Port. A pretty smart move. The guy’s paranoid but he ain’t no idiot. That means the weapons and fighters have no way of reaching the port in time. Did I also mention Orochi blew up the ships Franky and Usopp were rebuilding and the freaking Thousand Sunny! Holy crap! Whoever snitched on the Alliance needs a bloody good spanking.