Just some thoughts:
- Really enjoyed Kaido's personal motivations for why he is the way he is. He grew up with violence. He was good at it. He found that war is what elevated his own country. This is why he's so hell bent on using it to make the world "equal".
- You really have to take 1046-1049 as one "big" Chapter imo. A lot of each carries the same elements of finality/climax, so you get the full picture if you read these chapters back to back. In doing so, you also can see how it was just not possible for Oda to draw a final clash in only 17 chapters.
- I truly think it's over at this point. 1050 will probably be the culmination of his victory with the Wano citizens noticing what has happened. My guess is Momo will turn to human form and have a big speech to his citizens about what happened and Luffy's victory against Kaido. Either in 1050 or 1051.
- It's important that we don't get hung up on move patterns ("Acala"), Chapter titles, abilities that villains can/should/implied to have. If 1050 marks the end of the entire raid, this needs to serve as a valuable lesson for all of us (including myself) that patterns do not matter in this series (except that Luffy will win his fights lol)
- Overall, the Raid as a package isn't too bad. There are things i totally wished happened or wanted more of, but in an arc that is 140 chapters and still has anywhere from 10-20 more chapters left in its heavy revelations, updates, flashbacks and closure, it's good enough.
Pretty solid imo, really Wano and this whole raid could have been far worse, and im glad Oda in the least gave Kaido the absolute fucking A+ portrayal of being the tankiest and currently strongest motherfucker in the series. Seriously, it could have ended far sooner and been far more disappointing, but the author stuck with it and gave the arc the time and effort it needed to stick it's landing (and it's going to be a long ass landing for sure.....).
But I'm ready for what comes next, it should be good.