What a banger of a chapter to return to the present with. The art is simply gorgeous with all the ships, the stormy atmosphere, and all those chaotic Wano waves. Perfect weather to pull a traitor move lol.
It looks we finally get an answer to Kaido's motivation for hunting down the time jumping Scabbards. Orochi is reasonably paranoid that his spy reappeared after 20 years with a written note, he's not going to believe the full story unless he sees him in the flesh. Kanjuro was not aware he needed to present more conclusive evidence to his overly suspicious boss Orochi, but they still take a gamble on his info. Rather than the secrets of the world, Kaido is more about how the hell they jumped through time and is interested in meeting a Kozuki for the first time in decades. To be fair, the possibility of a time travel Devil Fruit could very well unravel the secrets of the world in Kaido's eyes. But what exactly do Kaido and Orochi want with Momonosuke? Even Doflamingo was out to capture rather than kill him. Kaido had some praise for the Kozuki history at the time of Oden's death and I wonder if thru Momo we'll find out why.
Very satisfying to finally see traitor Kanjuro enter the stage. I was worried in the flashback Oda might end up creating a new character as the traitor just to subvert expectations. The twist with Kanjuro has had hundreds of chapters of build up, he was the second Scabbard introduced after the leader Kin'emon. There was little hints dropped here and there like the usefulness of his painting DF, the Vivre Card needed for Zou, but the holes were so wide open you could substitute most of the other Scabbards who had not fully revealed their abilities. The strongest claim came from hististorical lore surrounding the traitorous painter Yamada Emosaku. The flashback seriously put this to the test as the retainers showed a lot of love and loyalty to Oden and he repaid them by giving up his own life for theirs and entrusting them with his dream. For a Scabbard to be a traitor, they would have to be an utter psychopath. That's just what we get the moment Kanjuro chooses to reveal himself in a dramatic, theatrical, completely unecessary manner.
Kanjuro's backstory adds a very unique layer I've never seen in another One Piece character. We see little Kanjuro is not depicted as human, but instead he's a shapeless blob with no motivation, no dreams, not even a will to live. Orochi cleverly takes notice of this kid and shapes him like clay, giving him direction and a DF ability to make his job possible. Orochi went as far as to take revenge on the killers of Kanjuro's parents to try and gain his loyalty, but it seems like the kid is completely out it and doesn't care who killed who anymore. I assume that raised as an actor, Kanjuro mastered the ability to completely surmerge himself in his role. Normally actors have mental cues tied to real world attachments that allow them to pull themselves out of this state, but with his parents dead that bond was severed and Kanjuro ended up a sad blob. Orochi could easily see Kanjuro was clearly insane, but that made him the perfect actor for the role he was given. He didn't have any resements against Wano or his fellow Scabbards, he didn't really believe in Oden's dream, Kanjuro was just playing his role as Orochi's little spy.
I have to wonder what happens to Kanjuro after this. When you put Oden one foot in the grave, help Wano descend into 20 years of hell, is redemption even possible? What Pudding does for Big Mom is a child's play compared to a world-class talent like Kanjuro. Even if he becomes a double-agent at the last moment, it's still not good enough. Orochi or Kaido will kill him as a martyr and that serves as Kanjuro's atonement. The main problem is that we have a second traitor by the name of Apoo, and while I expect him to fully come around and join the Worst Gen, I don't see the same character writing being recycled for traitor Kanjuro in the same arc. One thing that would be lovely to see is Kanjuro becoming Kin'emon's destined opponent, the two Scabbards we've known the longest both with DFs and around the same age, the leader taking care of the traitor in a life or death, a battle for Momo. Perhaps he dies a villain, perhaps he expresses some regret and helps Kinemon before the moment of death. Kanjuro has shot up to my favorite #2 Scabbard, though that label shouldn't apply anymore.
Lastly, we see Luffy, Law and Kid appear from underwater Marineford-style in their ships. Magnificent seeing the Sabaody trio and their ships. This is no doubt Denjiro's work. Orochi's plans got subserverted by his own inside man Denjiro, not in simple fashion of countering his moves but going further to make him believe he succeeded. Kaido, Orochi and Big Mom should all be drinking away and not expecting any visitors. I wonder how Kid got wrapped up in all this? He was going around rescuing his crew, did Denjiro show up and make him an offer? Pirates schooling Samurai on how things are done in the seas. Boy, I am pumped to see some naval battles. I want to see Kid and Law's full crews and their pirate ships show off too.