Much better chapter.
There was a very “Luffy entrusts Robin to Franky” vibe about Luffy and Yamato, and the two of them are showing a real understanding of each other. Curious to see if the Momotaro thing, which seemed so obvious, just isn’t going to happen. Would find that a waste of Marco if that’s really him done for the arc. Another obvious thing, Momo holding back the island, is happening, so…
And we’ve finally got confirmation that Kaido has been weakened, which is good, with him not being able to hold all the island up anymore. The ticking time bomb being an almost literal bomb isn’t all that surprising.
That’s the King we should have been having for all of Act Three, not just him showing up occasionally and being competent. Shame that chances are he’ll be defeated in the next ten chapters. That panel of him coming at Zoro and Franky was great- so was Zoro and Franky‘s quick talk, they’re two Strawhats who haven’t conversed much. Zoro finally getting a method to dealing with flying, even if it’s not exactly flying himself, is much needed.
And although it goes without saying that a main character will get more than a side one, the difference between how Oda cares about Zoro vs King compared to the two Mink fights is staggering. I like the setup for them fighting solo outside, and I’m also very keen to see why it is that Oda’s decided to take Zoro outside. Need him to be in place above the Flying Capital for a Ryuma legend, perhaps?
King, he really has been a lot more interesting since around the time he started to fight Zoro, very curious to see where his face reveal goes. I wonder if he’s going to have a more bestial appearance, like a fishman? One race at the top of the Red Line dealing with fire and the moon, the other at the bottom of it dealing with water and the sun? With Oda’s shading the guy could have red skin and purple hair, we’ll probably need the anime or for Zoro to comment on it next time we get the fight shown.
I think that’s enough setup of Luffy and Zoro until it’s time for their fights to finish, should be really moving onto the other plotlines now and getting them wrapped up. Not quite sure whether the other fights will need to wait until Momo stops the island or not.