Queen on his way to find One Piece.
A very nice follow up to last chapter with a big and heavy metal hybrid sent soaring through the sky to elevate the hell out of Sanji's final attack and nail the conclusiveness of the fight. Sanji's kind heart bringing back Chuji and winning another girl for the harem is always wonderful to see. The end of Sanji vs Queen kicks off the next serial: Escape from Tottoland. Lots to cover here with the Germa, Caesar, Sun Pirates, Pekoms...let's just hope Pedro doesn't make a guest appearance. I can already see Queen's future cover story "I was too popular for Wano."
He's hotter than fire, and I'm not talking about his powers. King rocking that post-TS Wyper look as Zoro cuts just enough to reveal that face and a little chest. A very well maintained appearance and braided hair for someone whose mask never comes off. There's an unquestionable connection between Lunarians and the three sky races, but how Urouge and King are treated is night and day. That his own crew are ready to sell him out for more than Crocodile or Hancock were worth says it all. Similar to Katakuri hiding the cuts in his mouth from his own siblings, King has zero desire to attract extra attention or bring Kaido any trouble because of his face.
Biker Kaido giving off powerful young Roger-meeting-Rayleigh vibes, or Luffy recruiting captive Zoro. Presumably 30-38 years ago, Kaido followed Whitebeard and Big Mom in recruiting kids as pirate parent, even naming these kids as no right-hand of his will be called Arber. "Abel" would have interesting biblical connotations as the first murder to match the Void Century genocide of the Lunarians, the Adam and Eve trees -- the latter whose roots bring light to Fishman Island from Mary Geoise/the former land of the gods. King the "torture-loving pervert" looks like a test subject who doesn't seem to mind his body being harmed. Kaido convinces him to move on as the experiments will never end and that he, and ONLY he, has the power to change the world.
Did Kaido, armed with his new dragon power and his forbidden knowledge from Rocks, see himself as the new Joyboy? Is this why Kaido targeted Wano for occupation? And when did cold reality set in and Kaido's dreams come crashing down?
At some point, Joyboy became Sadboy. Drinking his life away, countless suicide attempts, stuck raising a kid with no child support. His only happiness came from Doffy and Ceasar's artificial SMILES, creating the greatest war of them all to bring everything to an end. The Kaido flashback is looking better than ever.
Kaido's crew began in Punk Hazard. The Yonko saga and ensuing alliance to take down Kaido also began in Punk Hazard. It's also where a scientist like Queen was probably recruited. Where Momo's artificial DF was found. Where the Numbers came from. Where the SMILES were created. Where Zoro slayed his first dragon. Love seeing it all come together.
Extinguishing the last Lunarian will probably not help Zoro's allegations.
We learn King switches between a speed mode and a defense mode depending on flames. Just as zoan King and hybrid King cannot use a sword and he's forced to switch back to base, King must choose what attribute he wants like G4 Luffy's forms. The mechanism itself is difficult to explain and inconsistent as flame King bleeds in 1022. Regardless, King doesn't regenerate, he doesn't rapidly cauterize his wounds, King really is just harder to cut and Zoro cleverly works around it...until fire cutting just nullifies it in the end. The case is still there for King gaining near diamond-like properties on either his skin or suit due to heat and pressure, finding it harder to move and thus slower, but only SBS Oda can save us now.
Zoro Vs King: absolutely Zoro and Wano's best fight. The choreography, the intensity, and the execution with King unleashing his final and strongest attack for Zoro to surpass have all been sublime. The fight didn't end as soon as Zoro powered up like previous instances with King pulling a Snakeman Vs Katakuri continuing to challenge Zoro and eating multiple AdvCOC attacks. Switching between Zoan forms and flame modes kept the battle spicy and tested Zoro's brain game. Zoro was also under pressure to win in mere minutes before Enma drained everything. And the conclusion is a three-sword CoC Hiryu: Kaen to down an aerial opponent and bisect a magma dragon over the Flower Capital, making Ryuma proud.
Queen loses his left arm, King loses his right wing. Sanji gets the girl, Zoro gets his dragon. Magnificent way to officially close out another year of OP greatness.