I’ve wanted the fights to get over and done with, but that is not the way. Especially not since Jack and Perospero are the two longest setup fights in the arc apart from the Yonko
Baffling decision to off-panel it. Does not speak well for any non-Strawhat fight going forward, especially combined with how Kanjuro was finished (another fight that had more riding on it storywise than the others).
Just one chapter before this showing the two fights and this would have been a pretty good chapter to conclude them. The idea behind it of a joint fight, Luffy splitting the sky and allowing them to go Su Long and win, is a really good one, but Oda skipped out the meat of the fights and the result is just… is that it? That’s how Jack and Perospero go down? How utterly meh.
Also they shouldn’t have went Su Long three chapters ago, only to lose it and then have to regain it again, that’s just clumsy.
Should have been: chapter 2023, happens the same way except they don‘t go Su Long, just set up the fight, chapter 2026, purely shows the fight, show them doing well enough but ultimately unable to win without it, chapter 2027, what we got this chapter. I think that would have been pretty good. Now we’ve left it up to Toei.
Momo’s manning up, okay, decent, but the Mink stuff leaves a bad taste.
On the bright side, I said this round of ten chapters/one volume should see all the non-Yonko fights finished, given that Oda‘s just wrapped up the two most important of these in one chapter, that’s certainly the case now. Zoro and Sanji’s fights should get two chapters each, the rest will just be wrapped up whenever. Oda might even stick Apoo and Hawkins getting beat in the same chapter