Close to a full third action chapter, still quite enjoyable. Reiju and a scorpion being toxic to one another is just lovely.
Three pages of Luffy punching Kaido! Long enough that everyone apparently one-shotted by Big Mom last chapter is on their feet and looking good. Law the first to stop ignoring Big Mom, giving Zeus the electric massage of his life. Kid and Killer kicking Kaido while's he's down is commendable but just not their week. Zoro injures Kaido with his other dragon technique, once again bringing reference to Oden. It may seem annoying that we get Oden this and Enma that, diminishing Zoro's contribution, but this brings up Wano's especially strong theme of inherited will. One of the 21 Great Grade swords should not enough to put the Yonko on edge. The dead samurai of Wano are still fighting, they wish to reclaim Wano and have passed down some of their strength through their swords. We were introduced to this idea with the thousands of katana Onimaru and Kawamatsu handed to the alliance.
No one up until the CP0 just now has really noticed that 5,000 Samurai have stood up to a 30,000 Yonko army and not gotten overwhelmed and slaughtered. How are they supposed to overcome a 25,000 (now 22,000) deficit? Inebriation helps, but we've only seen the Numbers drunk to the point of incompetence. The Ice Oni helps, maybe some numbers have flipped to Chopper's side since then. Lastly, each of these samurai is expected to overcome multiple Yonko soldiers thanks to thousands of dead warriors fighting along them through their own mini-Enmas. Once Wano is over and Oden's will has been fulfilled, I expect the focus to fully shift back to Zoro's skills.
Everybody killing each other while the CP0 sips tea and plays 5D Wanonese checkers. Perfectly at home being served by geisha, they were most likely here all along at Orochi's discretion and forgotten by Kaido. Unlike the marines who have told us over and over they're not getting involved in Wano, the CP0 subplot has been dropped twice when negotiating with Orochi in Act 1, and X-Drake on behalf of Sword calling them out after Act 2. They left early in Dressrosa, Stussy observed and disappeared later in WCI, mostly stood on the sidelines at Levely, is Wano the time the CP0 finally makes a move? The CP0 were a potent enough power to force Yonko Blackbeard to leave Baltigo, but with only three members it's doubtful they will have that kind of impact. They haven't just geppo'd off the flying island as they're clearly eyeing an opportunity. Perhaps they assassinate a defeated Kaido. They steal the Wano Road Poneglyph when it finally appears. Maybe Orochi, whose main body has clearly gotten away at this point, can mobilize them into doing something unexpected. Whatever the case, X-Drake is down there to foil them. A shame about the lack of Vegapunk though.
Hybrid Kaido appears at the worst possible time. That lovely idea about how Luffy mastered Gear 4th because of how easily he resorted to it against a fodder ship, a Number and almost Ulti, gets blown out of the water. No future sight, no Ryou for 10 minutes, Law may as well teleport him back to Level 5. Oda said in an SBS that Luffy would have run away from Doflamingo on his own if he didn't have help for those 10 minutes, but once again we see Luffy passes out and becomes Zoro's burden. Luffy at his weakest while Kaido covered in dragon scales and channeling that dragon strength and elemental energy into his kanabo fighting style, his ideal state and his strongest. The worst part is that Kaido is just laughing and enjoying himself. He didn't transform because he felt desperate or threatened, he's having fun. He got to flex in base, show Zoro what a real tornado is like in dragon, now the rarely used hybrid gets a turn to stretch.
The raid's about to get wiped but at least we made it to phase 3. CP0 give us the whirlwind tour and put emphasis that the executives have to be defeated along with the Yonko. The only observations to make are that Usopp is back (possibly shooting dangos) and Sanji is no longer in monster girl paradise. Not shown but elsewhere Brook and Robin still looking for their match ups, Chopper's doctoring, Marco doing God's work, Carrot and Wanda getting slaughtered now that the darkened sky took away Sulong. Chapter 1004 likely means the ending to the legendary Volume 99, and what a damn fine time it would be to end Act 3. I just cannot imagine the Supernova surviving 10 minutes of hakiless Luffy, Zoro having to carry him, and hybrid Kaido finally making his move.
Pretty funny that three rooftop exits are highlighted before showing the three Supernova reactions to hybrid Kaido in the final page. An ominous sign that a chase sequence is about to begin? Everybody put on an extra pair of pants, Kaido's pulled out an even bigger club.
