- Caesa---sorry, GANGSTER GASTINO, is a literal gas man who could easily float up into the clouds but is somehow still stuck in WCI. That is just a hilarious new level of incompetence from a scientist like him.
- Let's be real, Zunesha left because that thing is a walking talking Void Century spoiler machine.
- There is hope for Kiku: The 7-day time skip allows more than enough time to mourn Izo off-panel, and a proper shrine has not been built. We see Izo's guns and Ashura's sword because they are meant to decorate the grave like Ace and Whitebeard's. Oda may be preparing a full Seven Samurai-style shot with Momo and ALL the Scabbards standing before the completed shrine sometime in the future.
- With the Dawn and Wano opening shifted to a final arc event like the destruction of Fishman Island, my choices for Wano's final panel:
1.) Greenbull brings back the sakura trees all over the country and it mirrors the end of Drum Kingdom
2.) Luffy silhouette dancing in his biggest party yet for the Nika points.
3.) A shot of the completed Strawhat crew as Jinbe and whoever else officially join.
A few more small thoughts on Hawkins.
The fact that he treated others as disposable pawns in his card game, then it turns out Oda treated him as the most disposable of the Worst Gen is palpable karma. Killer was surrounded by his crew, Hawkins had nobody left in the end. He got what was coming.
From Dressrosa to Wano there was a very heavy card theme. It doesn't get more obvious than Joker, Jack, Queen, King, the Numbers and Yonko Cardo himself. This is the crew a tarot user like Hawkins always belonged to, it is very fitting that this is his resting place.
I want to say Hawkin's ultimate card was the Tower. Destroying the old and creating a new path forward was the draw Hawkins needed for a 1% chance to live and reform. I blame that unlucky black cat in his crew called Faust for cursing this man.
I'm just going to say it - Ashura was a much needed character and he got a good death. He represented the jaded side of the Scabbards, growing disillusioned with the Kozuki abandoning Wano for 20 years to the point that he turned on the cause and became a bandit. He experienced death over and over as he lost countless subordinates who couldn't wait to Kaido. He was the one best grounded in reality and that's why only Ashura could act when the Scabbards were confronted with Oden's holy image. In death, Ashura completes his circle from the Red Scabbard most detached from Oden and his dream to becoming Oden himself: he dies alone taking the explosion that could have wiped out all the retainers to keep hope alive.
A dozen chapters later his corpse, no medical attention received and definitely dead by this point, shows up again to give Inu a hole on the roof so he can use Sulong indoors. Ashura fought Jack in Act 1. Ashura fought Inu in Act 2. So I love that Oda brings it all together one more time, allowing Ashura to make amends, and this time from beyond the grave support Inu in finishing off Jack.
Oh Izo. Definitely the most high profile death of the war with a 510 mil bounty, one of the most recognizable WB commander faces, and a CP0 kill to his name. He felt the closest to Kiku, Kin and Luffy after Marineford and not surprisingly went down trying to save all three.
Izo came to Wano looking for a place to die, seeking to join countless WB pirates and atone for basically ignoring Wano for 30+ years including Oden's death. Tells everyone to live for Luffy's sake and goes down trying to protect him from CP0. He bridged the gap between bickering Wanonese and outsiders like Usopp because he's adventured and seen it all. Skilled. Brave. Mature. Self-sacrificing. The irony of Usopp being saved by this is man is that if you told me to imagine what a fully realized EOS version of Usopp would be like, I would think of Izo. He was a personal favorite of mine and will be sorely missed.